Tufts Univ. reinstates Christian ministry

Baptist Press ^ | 12-7-12 | Leigh Jones

[ReformationFan]

Student religious groups should not have to appoint leaders who do not share their beliefs, a student judiciary at Tufts University announced on Wednesday (Dec. 5).

It was a big victory for a Christian group on campus that had lost official recognition in October.

Like several other private colleges, Tufts has an "all comers" policy that requires official student organizations to be open to all students for both membership and leadership, regardless of beliefs. But in reviewing a discrimination complaint filed against Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), the largest evangelical group on the Medford, Mass., campus, the Tufts Committee on Student Life decided unanimously the policy should not apply to leaders of religious groups.

"It is reasonable to expect that leaders within individual [religious groups] be exemplars of that particular religion," the committee ruled. "Therefore, an 'all comers' policy for group leadership may not be appropriate for all [religious groups]."

Under the new policy, religious groups must remain open to all students for membership but can use doctrinal statements when selecting leaders.

Tufts Christian Fellowship lost it official recognition in October after members of the Tufts Coalition Against Religious Exclusion complained the group's leadership requirements violated the school's nondiscrimination policy. TCF members applauded the new policy in a statement released Thursday (Dec. 6): "We appreciate that the Committee on Student Life recognizes that faith-based groups may need the freedom to use faith-based criteria in its leadership selection in order to remain consistent with the mission and beliefs of their faiths.

[ReformationFan]

Some good news.

[SumProVita]

Someone needs to get something similar moving at Vanderbilt!!!!!!!!!!!

[GeronL]

I bet the Christians out number some of those leftist groups membership, they should have went and joined those and then made them hold a leadership vote. heh

[SES1066]

... Tufts has an "all comers" policy that requires official student organizations to be open to all students for both membership and leadership ...

So I suppose that a NAZI skinhead can try for the leadership of the Mao society or should that be the Young Democrats (I get them confused at times!) Anyway, anybody care to guess how long it will be before the Tufts' Administration will over-rule this over-rule? It is after all the progressive thing to do in Massachusetts!

[Maine Mariner]

I also bet Tufts was looking at some expensive lawsuits.

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Every time I see mention of Tufts, I am reminded how the senior Marine advisor (Co-van) for Brigade 258 of the RVN Marines, Major Gordon Keyser USMC, cracked us up one day in 1972. He allowed as how Tufts didn’t seem to be a proper name for a university - it sounded more like a feminine hygiene product.