The California State University (CSU) has banned local chapters of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship because it discriminates its against gay members.
InterVarsity, an evangelical Christian group with 860 chapters in the United States, automatically closed to non-christian and gay members as it strives to maintain Christian beliefs.
But the CSU believes that InterVarsity’s leadership policy clashes with state-authorized nondiscrimination policy that states that membership and leadership in all official student groups must be open to all, University Herald reports.
According to Mike Uhlencamp, Director of Public Affairs for the CSU, who was quoted in a Huffington Post report, InterVarsity is yet to sign a general non-discrimination policy which is required for it to be legally recoognised.
“We have engaged with (InterVarsity) for the better part of a year and informed them they would have to sign a general nondiscrimination statement. They have not.
“For an organization to be recognized, they must sign a general nondiscrimination policy,” Uhlencamp said.
Uhlencamp however added that the fellowship “will still have access to meeting rooms” but are no more “an officially recognized student organization in the institution.
“We are not disbanding them, they have not been removed from any of our campuses,” he said.
CSU’s decision to ban the fellowship finds legal backing in a
Interestingly, InterVarsity has been banned by more than 40 other college campuses, University Herald says.
The International Fellowship has existed in the United States since 1947.
