Opinion ID: 794892
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether CLS Violated a University Policy

Text: 11 As an initial matter, it is doubtful that CLS violated either of the policies SIU cited as grounds for derecognition. One is a Board of Trustees policy providing that [n]o student constituency body or recognized student organization shall be authorized unless it adheres to all appropriate federal or state laws concerning nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. Through two rounds of briefing in this Court—one for the injunction pending appeal and one on the merits—SIU failed to identify which federal or state law it believes CLS violated. We pointed out SIU's shortcoming in our order granting the injunction pending appeal. (Order of Aug. 22, 2005, at 3.) But when invited once again at oral argument to identify a federal or state law CLS had violated, SIU was still unable to answer the question. This raises the specter of pretext; at the least, this asserted ground for derecognition simply drops out of the case. 12 SIU also claims CLS violated the university's Affirmative Action/EEO policy, which states that SIU will provide equal employment and education opportunities for all qualified persons without regard to[, among other things,] sexual orientation. We are skeptical that CLS violated this policy. CLS requires its members and officers to adhere to and conduct themselves in accordance with a belief system regarding standards of sexual conduct, but its membership requirements do not exclude members on the basis of sexual orientation. CLS's statement of faith specifies, among other things, a belief in the sinfulness of all acts of sexual conduct outside of God's design for marriage between one man and one woman, which acts include fornication, adultery, and homosexual conduct. Those who engage in sexual conduct outside of a traditional marriage are not invited to become CLS members unless they repent the conduct and affirm the statement of faith. 13 In response to the law school's inquiry about its membership policies, CLS explained that it interprets its statement of faith to allow persons who may have homosexual inclinations to become members of CLS as long as they do not engage in or affirm homosexual conduct. The same is true of unmarried heterosexual persons: heterosexual persons who do not participate in or condone heterosexual conduct outside of marriage may become CLS members; those who engage in unmarried heterosexual conduct and do not repent that conduct and affirm the statement of faith may not. CLS's membership policies are thus based on belief and behavior rather than status, and no language in SIU's policy prohibits this. 14 There are other reasons we are skeptical that CLS violated SIU's Affirmative Action/EEO policy. First, CLS does not employ anyone. Second, it is not readily apparent (though certainly an argument could be made) that CLS should be considered an SIU education opportunity for purposes of applying the policy. On this latter point, the Affirmative Action/EEO policy by its terms applies to SIU, and there is no support in the record for the proposition that CLS is an extension of SIU. CLS is a private speaker, albeit one receiving (until it was derecognized) the public benefits associated with recognized student organization status. But subsidized student organizations at public universities are engaged in private speech, not spreading state-endorsed messages. See Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 833-34, 115 S.Ct. 2510, 132 L.Ed.2d 700 (1995) (explaining the difference between government funding of private groups to spread a government-controlled message and government funding of private groups simply to encourage a diversity of views from private speakers); see also Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Wis. Sys. v. Southworth, 529 U.S. 217, 229, 233, 120 S.Ct. 1346, 146 L.Ed.2d 193 (2000). It would be a leap, and one SIU does not take, to suggest that student organizations are mouthpieces for the university. 15 Accordingly, CLS has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the threshold question of whether either of SIU's stated grounds for derecognition actually applies. Regardless, even accepting at face value SIU's conclusion that CLS's membership policies violated the university's antidiscrimination policy, CLS has shown a likelihood of success on both its expressive association and free speech claims, and we move to those now.