Staff Reports
College administrators and student governments are getting sued — and rightly so. Two separate Christian student groups have sued SUNY Broome Community College after being denied recognition because they require leaders to be believers. At the same time, a private college’s student senate has refused to recognize a Republican club and now faces a legal warning from FIRE. These are not small campus squabbles. They are tests of whether colleges will honor free speech and freedom of association or keep picking winners and losers.
Two lawsuits pile up at SUNY Broome
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sued SUNY Broome in federal court with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty leading the charge. Shortly afterward, Campus Bible Fellowship filed a separate complaint with Alliance Defending Freedom. Both suits say the college refused recognition because the groups require Christian leaders who lead prayer and Bible study. Colten Stanberry, counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, summed it up plainly: telling a faith group it can’t have faithful leaders is like telling a Yankees fan club it must let a Red Sox fan be president. Tyson Langhofer, ADF senior counsel, says the First Amendment protects religious groups’ right to choose leaders who share their beliefs. The plaintiffs seek recognition, campus resources, and injunctions to stop the college from enforcing what they call a discriminatory rule.
Whitman College: private school, same problem
At Whitman College, a different route is playing out. The student senate voted to deny recognition to the Whitman Republican Club after an hour-long interrogation of the club’s founder about national politics. David Dunbabin, chair, Whitman Republican Club, says the hearing felt like a trap and that the outcome was decided before it began. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sent a legal warning to Sarah Bolton, President, Whitman College, demanding the college reverse the denial under its own handbook promises of free speech and association. Whitman is private, so the First Amendment does not apply directly, but a private college still must keep its promises to students or face consequences — reputational, legal, and otherwise.
Legal stakes and what courts will look at
These cases rest on familiar fault lines. Public schools like SUNY Broome must obey the First Amendment, but courts also remember Christian Legal Soc. v. Martinez, which allowed an “all‑comers” rule if applied evenly. Plaintiffs will try to show the college enforces rules selectively — punishing religious groups while tolerating other exclusions. If the court finds inconsistent enforcement, or that the policy targets viewpoint, the college’s position weakens. For Whitman, the battle is over institutional promises and student‑government rules, not strict constitutional text. Either way, courts will look at whether schools are managing forums fairly or playing favorites.
Colleges can stop this with two common-sense moves
Administrators and student senators should stop acting like censors in suits and start acting like referees. Honor your own handbooks. Apply rules evenly. If you want a campus without exclusion, say so clearly and make sure every group follows the same rule — uniformly and transparently. If you can’t do that, expect more lawsuits, legal fees, and bad press. Americans send young people to college to grow, argue, and learn — not to be told which beliefs are welcome. Campuses that keep trying to pick winners and losers will get a courtroom curriculum instead.
