Earlier this spring,student groups at Vanderbilt University fought back against a requirement that they accept “all comers.” Christian groups said if they couldn’t require potential leaders to be Christian, they’d leave the campus.
The rule upset some Tennessee lawmakers, too, and they can vote on Thursday for a bill to essentially express their disapproval. But one is asking for an opinion on whether the bill passes legal muster.
The lawmakers can’t overturn the Vanderbilt rule, since it’s a private school.
The Board of Regents universities and the University of Tennessee are under the legislators’ control, so lawmakers drafted a bill to say public schools can’t have such a rule.
The bill would protect religious groups from having to accept members who don’t profess the faith of the group. It’s ready for a vote in each chamber.
But the controversial measure faces one more hurdle – House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh has requested a state attorney general’s opinion on whether it would be defensible.
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“We’ll see from that prospective about the constitutionality of it.”
Regents and UT officials say their in-house attorneys are worried they’ll be legally liable if they treat two student groups separately – if Protestant groups don’t have to accept Catholics, then why must the Accounting Club be required to take all comers?
The bill took flight out of the House Education Committee today and can land on the House floor as early as tomorrow/Thursday. The Senate had already scheduled the bill for the same day.
Web Extra:
The bill, HB 3576 Pody/ SB 3597 Beavers, has been rewritten. The latest House amendment states the general intention of the bill but has slightly different wording than a similar amendment in the Senate – the two houses will have to agree on the same language before it’s ready to go to the governor.
Lawmakers tried several times to extend the reach of the bill to private schools:
Knoxville Lawmaker Wants to Enforce State Rules on Vanderbilt
Lawmakers Try to Muscle Private University Over Anti-Bias Policy
The original issue was explored in these stories:
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