Preserving Orthodoxy on Secular Campuses: The Right of Student Religious Organizations to Exclude Non-Believers
William E. Thro, M.A., J.D. and Charles J. Russo, J.D., Ed. D., 250 Ed. Law Rep. 497 (2010)
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The purpose of this Article is to explain why student religious organizations have a constitutional right to control their membership. Part I provides an overview of the judicial approaches to the issue. Specifically, it details the Seventh Circuit decision in Walker and the district court opinion in Kane, which the Ninth Circuit summarily affirmed. Part II views the issue through three different constitutional lenses–free exercise of religion, freedom of association, and the Court’s student organization jurisprudence. The Article demonstrates that no matter how one views the issue, existing precedent requires that the student religious organizations prevail.
