Vanderbilt University is back in the legislature’s sights over its “all-comers” policy. The state Senate today passed a bill that would to tell Vanderbilt to reconsider its non-discrimination policy – which Christian groups have complained is pushing them off campus.
The Senate bill has been amended to serve as a message, essentially threatening Vanderbilt with a loss of state contracts if it doesn’t change its policy in the coming year.
Senator Doug Overbey, a Republican from Maryville, says the measure is a dangerous step.
“I think it’s self-evident why this amendment then gives me pause for concern – when the state starts dictating to private colleges how they are run.”
Overbey is on the board of directors of Maryville College – an institution forced by the state in 1901 to become a segregated, whites only school.
But Vanderbilt undergraduate Peter Valk, a member of one of the religious clubs, says he’s in favor of the bill.
“What it really asks, is, the state to step in, and ask the university at least for a year, to be consistent with their policy, to do what would be forced upon them if they were a public university.”
Sources familiar with the Vanderbilt legal department said the university’s attorneys are preparing an “appropriate response” to take to court if the bill goes into effect.
The Senate bill passed 19 to 12, with two senators not voting. The House version has been put back on today’s agenda.
WEB EXTRA
The bill is SB 3597 Beavers/ HB 3576 Pody.
Senator Roy Herron, D-Dresden, has said several times he disagrees with Vanderbilt’s new policy and understands politicians being critical of it.
“It’s another thing, ladies and gentlemen, to legislate, and dictate and put the power and the weight of the state of Tennessee on a private university and say, ‘We know what’s right for you, we know what’s best for you, and you’re gonna do it our way, or else.’”
Herron says the imposition of the state’s will on a private school is an example of “big government” intruding on citizens’ lives.
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