Let’s not be too quick to read too much into Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to deny certiorari (judicial review) in a 9th Circuit case (Alpha Delta Chi v. Reed) that applied a nondiscrimination rather than “all-comers” policy to deny recognition to a religious student group at a California public university. Because the Court denies cert in 95% of its cases, its denial of certiorari means nothing about the merits of… [Continue Reading]

Please read Kim Colby’s February 8, 2012 Open Letter to Vanderbilt’s Leaders: The purpose of this letter is to identify a solution to the current impasse between the religious students and the Administration. The letter will also touch upon four key points. First, as explained below, the Administration now acknowledges that no federal or state law, regulation, or court ruling requires it to adopt a policy prohibiting religious groups from… [Continue Reading]

Please take a few minutes to watch the highlights from the Town Hall meeting between University officials and students.  Chancellor Nick Zeppos called the meeting to discuss the University’s “anti-discrimination” policy for student organizations. The first video is 6 minutes.   The second one is 45 minutes of a three hour meeting.  We also have a 45-minute version. In addition, this brief video contains excellent material about Greek Life and the “all-comers”policy.  (Greek Life-2:20)        … [Continue Reading]

What would you think of a Town Hall meeting held in a room too small to accomodate the town, ground rules that don’t allow the opposition 5-10 minutes to present their side, and lastly rigid control over who had access to the microphones?  Welcome to deliberative democracy at Vanderbilt  University.  Video of Town Hall Meeting Articles about the Town Hall Meeting: The Hustler (2/1/2012) The City Paper (2/1/2012)  Fox and Friends Video: Swain and Saio (2/1/2012)  

Vanderbilt officials have denied a request from the student president of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) to allow a spokesperson to speak 5-10 minutes at next Tuesday’s town hall meeting (January 31st).  Justin Gunter had hoped for an opportunity for the University community to hear both sides of the religious freedom argument in a public setting.  Instead, attendees will be limited to asking questions about the University’s controversial new ”anti-discrimination” policy.  Here’s the link to Gunter’s letter and the University’s response:  http://www.clsnet.org/document.doc?id=319

Please Read and Circulate to Interested Parties January 27, 2012 Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos Vanderbilt University 211 Kirkland Hall Nashville, Tennessee 37240 Sent via U.S. Mail and Facsimile (615-322-6060) Dear Chancellor Zeppos: The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE, thefire.org) was disappointed to learn via your January 20 statement that Vanderbilt is abandoning America’s pluralistic tradition by banning religious and political student groups from making leadership decisions based on their religious or… [Continue Reading]