Two years ago, a federal judge slapped down a University of Iowa policy the school had used to discriminate against faith-based student clubs. The court’s ruling was clear: change the policy and stop targeting religious groups on campus.
The university did the opposite, expanding its “human rights” policy and kicking off just about every religious group on campus. And for the second time, the University of Iowa has lost in federal court.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose ordered the university to reinstate InterVarsity, a Christian group, as well as a handful of other religious clubs it had kicked off its campus. Even better, several university officers must also pay out of their own pockets for all expenses InterVarsity incurred during its court battle to stay on campus.
The school’s grievance with InterVarsity was the same it had against other religious groups: because these clubs required their leaders to sign a statement of faith, students who did not share the same values could feel discriminated against.
But it is not for the university to decide how faith-based organizations choose their leaders nor is it acceptable for the university to take action against religious clubs and not secular ones, the court ruled.
The judge’s reasoning was clear: The University of Iowa had been warned already not to discriminate against religious clubs, even if the school disagreed with the way these groups decide their leadership. It refused to listen and instead doubled down, reviewing religious clubs not once but twice. As a result, InterVarsity’s access to campus was denied, its bank account frozen, its website shut down, and it was advertised as “defunct” despite ongoing student interest in the club.
“… Despite their [accurate] interpretation of that order,” the judge wrote, university officials “proceeded to broaden enforcement of the human rights policy in the name of uniformity — applying extra scrutiny to religious groups in the process — while at the same time continuing to allow some groups to operate in violation of the policy. The court does not know how a reasonable person could have concluded this was acceptable, as it plainly constitutes the same selective application of the human rights policy that the court found constitutionally infirm in the preliminary injunction.”
This is an important win for religious freedom and freedom of speech. The University of Iowa does not have the right to tell a Christian club how it should choose its leaders just as the government does not have the right to tell a church how it should choose its pastor, per the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling.
The school claimed it does indeed have that right since InterVarsity meets on its property. But because the University of Iowa is a public institution, it is legally bound to viewpoint neutrality, meaning it cannot choose to side with secular groups over a religious group and it cannot side with religious groups over a secular one. It must be neutral and allow each to coexist equally.
There’s a growing number of conservatives ready to toss aside viewpoint neutrality, but this case should give them pause. The statute has its flaws, but it’s hard to argue that InterVarsity would have won its case without it. The public square is open and accessible to all views, and the federal court made it clear last week that any person who tries to change that will be stopped. The University of Iowa learned its lesson the hard way — not just once but twice.
