Regulations 34 CFR § 75.500(d) and § 76.500(d) Serve the Public Good Because They:
Protect All Students’ Freedom of Speech and Religious Freedom:
Protect All Students’ Freedom of Speech and Religious Freedom:
- Advance religious diversity on campus
- Protect students’ freedom of speech and religious freedom
- Ensure that religious student groups are treated fairly and evenhandedly
- Give students who may feel their religious beliefs are not respected in the classroom or dorm a place where they can meet with students who share their values
- Provide consistent protection for students’ speech and religious freedom regardless of which state a student chooses to move to in order to attend college
- Allow religious student groups to continue to make positive contributions on their campuses and practical experience in learning to serve others through their service projects on campus, in their communities, or at a national and international level
- Allow religious student groups to continue to serve as emotional support for students away from home for the first time, especially during times of increased stress
- Allow religious student groups to provide a place for religious sustenance for students away from their home congregation
- Allow religious student groups to fill a void that the state cannot fill because the state is not allowed to lead devotional religious activity, yet many students sincerely want to meet on campus with other students to talk about religious ideas and beliefs
- Provide a practical example for international students at American colleges of what true free speech and religious freedom look like, so that they can aspire to improve protections for these basic human rights in their home countries
- Government officials should not interfere in religious groups’ leadership selection
- Religious autonomy in internal governance is most the basic tenet of separation of church and state
- Government officials should not be penalizing religious groups because of their religious beliefs and speech
- Provide clarity for college administrators
- Protect administrators from costly damage awards in their personal capacity
- Save taxpayers’ money by preventing costly lawsuits against public colleges
- Helps college administrators resist calls to remove or harass religious students
- America will reap a society that is intolerant of minority religious beliefs and practices if college students learn that religious groups can be suppressed by government actors
- Teach students to respect their fellow students’ different religious beliefs
- Teach students to listen to one another even if they disagree