MEDFORD, Mass. — Another campus Christian group is fighting claims of discrimination over its requirement that leaders share a common profession of faith.
The student-led judiciary at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., voted last week to revoke official recognition for Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), the largest evangelical group on campus. Complaints from a group formed to challenge TCF’s presence on campus prompted the judiciary’s decision. Members of the Tufts Coalition Against Religious Exclusion accused TCF of violating the school’s nondiscrimination policy.
TCF, a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, faced similar complaints 12 years ago after denying a female student a leadership role because of her beliefs about homosexuality. In that case, as in most other recent incidents involving campus Christian groups, school officials responded to a situation involving a specific student.
But this time the challenge to TCF did not include any current or former members of the organization. Nothing but a desire to force the group off campus prompted the complaints.
In 2000, InterVarsity representatives successfully persuaded Tufts administrators that the school’s commitment to diversity required them to allow Christian groups to operate on campus even if they disagreed with a specific group’s beliefs. Since then TCF’s membership has grown to about 120 students and the group has not faced any accusations of discrimination.
As a private school, Tufts is not bound to follow Supreme Court rulings.
Last year, another private school, Nashville’s Vanderbilt University, adopted an “all-comers” policy that forced 15 evangelical Christian groups to sever ties with the school. Most public colleges have avoided such policies, knowing they are likely to be challenged in court.
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