Victory (At Least For Now) For Religious Freedom in the University of Wisconsin System

From the Journal-Sentinel, a situation which we have blogged about:

Madison - A University of Wisconsin-Superior religious group that is suing the university over its refusal to recognize it will be able to operate on campus while the lawsuit is pending.

UW-Superior agreed to allow the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter to operate as the lawsuit progresses challenging the student body’s refusal to recognize the group. The agreement was entered into by both groups and approved Monday by the U.S. District Court for Western Wisconsin.

Groups not recognized by the university cannot have access to campus facilities and student funding.

The Alliance Defense Fund’s Center for Academic Freedom, a Christian legal group, is bringing the lawsuit.

The UW Roman Catholic Foundation has also filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming university policies discriminate against religious groups that want to qualify for student fees.

The lawsuit challenges a policy that says student organizations must agree not to discriminate in their membership on the basis of religion. It claims the requirement discriminates against religious groups whose members share a similar faith and beliefs.

It‘s close to impossible to view this situation as an example of university bureaucrats being scrupulous about discrimination. As we have pointed out, several UW campuses have an active Greek system consisting of all male fraternities and all female sororities.

And programs targeting minorities -- in other words, programs that discriminate against whites -- are common in academia.

What we have here is hostility to Christianity, especially conservative Christianity which might challenge campus norms about sexuality.

But happily, the legal system does provide some protection.