The College Fix

Ongoing efforts to deny student religious groups the right to select their leaders according to their own beliefs have troubled campuses across the nation in recent years, but at least in Virginia, the fight to defend liberty and freedom of association at colleges has taken a turn for the better.

WORLD on Campus reports:

Virginia lawmakers voted earlier this week to give college campus groups the right to restrict membership to students who agree with their mission.

The bill is designed to prevent state universities from enacting “all-comers” policies, which undermine the ability of religious and political organizations to form around a specific set of beliefs.

“It’s pretty simple: A Democratic club shouldn’t have to accept a Republican as a member and members of a religious group should be able to expect that their leadership will share the group’s core commitments,” state Sen. Mark Obenshain, the bill’s sponsor, told The Roanoke Times. “It’s perfectly reasonable for an organization to expect its members to agree with, and be good examples of, the organization’s mission.”

Critics called the bill unnecessary, saying no group had been threatened by a “hostile takeover.” But in recent years, colleges have used “all-comers” policies to prevent Christian groups from refusing to accept leaders who approve of homosexuality.

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