Press Release
From Christian Legal Society, 3-17-23
We need your help! Deadline: Friday, March 24, 2023 On February 22, 2023, the Department of Education announced it wants to rescind an important regulation that protects religious student groups on public college and university campuses. This includes CLS chapters. By rescinding the regulation, public colleges and universities can more easily penalize religious organizations for their religious beliefs and speech. The Department cannot rescind the regulation until it has received and considered comments from the public. It is vitally important that the Department of Education hear from the public that the regulation should not be rescinded. WHAT CAN YOU DO? We need you to file comments by March 24, 2023, sharing your positive stories regarding the role of religious organizations on campus and opposing the rescission of this regulation that protects the ability of religious organizations to gather on campus as recognized associations. We also need you to pass this along to your friends and family and tell them to do the same by March 24, 2023! CLS has a webpage that provides a step-by-step guide for submitting comments, as well as an FAQ and ideas for comments. Please take 5 minutes to protect religious student organizations on public college campuses. Learn more about this issue (including how to submit comments) here. A short podcast is here and an article here.  https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/ED-2022-OPE-0157-0001?bblinkid=267747772&bbemailid=46536624&bbejrid=-1651904350 On: Direct Grant Programs, State-Administered Formula Grant Programs Proposed Rule |
| Suggestions for Writing a Brief Comment For current students, recent grads, or persons involved in religious student groups when they were younger, here is a possible message: ”I am grateful to have been part of a religious student group at ____ called ______. It made my college (or law school) experience better because _______________________. The current regulations benefit college administrators and students and should not be rescinded.”Next step: Submit the paragraph above by itself, or add a short personal touch (which is really helpful), such as: · Describe a problem that you have encountered or heard about from a friend involving religious discrimination or anti-religious pressure in the classroom or dorms; · Share the positive influence that having a faith community as a recognized student organization has had on you and other students; · Share the positive activities that your group carries out on campus (e.g., clothing drives, helping at school events, bringing speakers to campus), in your community (e.g., tutoring, legal aid), or on mission trips (e.g., hurricane clean-up, domestic or international spring break trips); · Note the importance of having a faith community as a place to explore and express your faith during college or law school; and/or · Explain why a religious group needs to have leaders who agree with its religious beliefs (e.g., they lead its Bible studies and worship, help formulate its message, represent it to the law school community, etc.). |
