Central Michigan University says it will no longer bar the conservative student group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) from limiting its membership to students who share the organization's core beliefs.
Citing its policy banning ideological and political groups from "discriminating" on the basis of "political persuasion," Central Michigan initially told YAF it could not prevent liberal students from joining the group. This was the administration's position, despite the fact that liberal students had reportedly been attending YAF's meetings with the intention of voting its leaders out, replacing them, and taking the group over from the inside.
It was not until the advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) informed the school in a letter that the policy was unconstitutional that Central Michigan officials reversed their stance. FIRE vice president Robert Shibley says the school realized it had a policy in place that allowed religious groups to determine who wanted to join, going "by who actually agreed with the group" and allowing these faith-based groups to limit their membership accordingly.
Another victory for our constitutional rights under the First Amendment.
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