A Christian College Sues to Protect Its Values Against the Federal Leviathan

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | May 7, 2021 | George Leef

[karpov]

Under the Constitution, the federal government has no power over education, including arrangements that colleges make for student housing and expectations for their conduct on campus. Furthermore, the First Amendment protects religious institutions’ freedom to speak and operate according to their beliefs.

Nevertheless, College of the Ozarks has just filed suit against President Biden and two bureaucrats in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The reason for the suit is a directive issued by HUD that imposes a rule against housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a rule that the federal government intends to apply to colleges as well as commercial sellers and renters of housing. (The college’s complaint is available here.)

The college has always kept housing for men and women separate, but under the directive, its policy would be illegal because it recognizes only biological males and females. It won’t place students in campus housing based on their claimed gender orientation. If the school were to continue its traditional policies, it would face costly litigation and ruinous fines from the government.

With legal assistance from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the school has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Missouri, where it will be heard by Judge Roseann Ketchmark. It asks the court to block enforcement of the federal directive, arguing that it was issued without the required notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act, it exceeds the powers of HUD under the Fair Housing Act, it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it violates the college’s rights under the Constitution, and it exceeds the scope of federal powers under the Tenth Amendment.

[ClearCase_guy]

“Everything Within the State, Nothing Against the State, Nothing Outside the State.” — Mussolini

[LibertyWoman]

Wicked, evil, demonic. Those are the words (among others) that come to mind. Just think about what the democrats are doing. Here is a top-notch college, teaching young adults in their fields of interest and preparing them for entry into life. College of the Ozarks charges no tuition with the condition that the student work on campus. Education, the way it's meant to be along with spiritual guidance for the students.

But the U.S. Government is now demanding that this college serve up depravity by mandating the language used to describe housing and by dictating that room must be made for the mentally ill and that they must actually participate in that illness/depravity in order to comply.

I have little faith in the judicial system at this point because it is also comprised of moral reprobates and weak-minded cowards.

[Albion Wilde]

But before looking into the school’s case, it’s worth asking why it finds the directive so threatening. College of the Ozarks is known as a traditionalist Christian institution. Presumably, all the students who apply and are accepted are comfortable with its housing policies. It is extremely unlikely that a male who identifies as female or a female who identifies as male would be interested in attending the college. Why go to court?

Because sex deviance activists purposefully revel in opportunities to humiliate Christians and cause financial loss and psychic pain by ignoring all the other venues available in order to target the Christians. Their fight is actually against God. They think that an American court victory will justify their aberrance and silence their conscience.