The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed a federal lawsuit against SUNY Broome Community College on behalf of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which is a Christian campus ministry with over 1,000 chapters.
The college denied official recognition to the student ministry after InterVarsity required its student leaders — those leading prayer and Bible studies — to share its Christian faith.
Attorney Colten Stanberry, counsel at Becket, says the group's request is straightforward.
“To do effective ministry, especially effective Christian ministry, we have to have leaders that believe the same thing we do. And they went back and forth to the university, and the university ultimately said, ‘Sorry, we're not changing our policy.’ And so, where negotiation and discussion failed, we had to file a lawsuit,” Stanberry says.
Jake Sonner, who is a member of InterVarsity, said that everyone is welcome as the Christian ministry is supposed to help student know Jesus and grow in faith.
“You don’t have to be a Christian to walk through our door. We just ask that students who lead our prayers and worship actually share the faith they are helping others live out. A public college shouldn’t exclude us for that,” Sonner said.
SUNY Broome argued the requirement violates campus non-discrimination policies. But Stanberry pointed out that forcing a religious group to accept non-believing leaders undermines the whole point of the club.
“Telling InterVarsity it can't have Christian leaders is like telling a Yankees fan club that it has to let a Red Sox fan be president. It's nonsense,” Stanberry states. “The First Amendment doesn't let a public college pick the leaders of a religious ministry.”
Without official status, InterVarsity is cut off from meeting spaces, campus funding and recruitment resources as the new school year begins.
A federal court hearing on InterVarsity's request for an injunction is expected later this fall.
