University of Iowa Deports 38 Student Groups

When the University of Iowa sent a Christian student group off campus, they may not have reckoned that the exiles would complain, much less go to court. “The University of Iowa has deregistered another 38 student groups after a federal judge found it unequally enforced its human rights policy by kicking off campus a student organization that had barred an openly gay member from becoming a leader,” Vanessa Miller reports in The Gazette. “At least 22 of the newly deregistered groups are organized around religion, culture or ideology.”

“They include Imam Mahdi, a Muslim-based student organization highlighted by the judge who found viewpoint might have motivated the university’s ‘differential treatment’ last fall of the faith-based group Business Leaders in Christ, or BLinC. The groups that recently lost campus affiliation — and benefits that come with it, like access to university facilities and student fees — automatically were deregistered after failing to comply with a UI request they submit governing documents proving they observe the UI’s human rights policy.”

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