What could go wrong?

The statement from the Biden Department of Education seems innocuous enough and reflective of the whole administration itself. The Trump-era policy was “burdensome” and “confusing” and too much to bother with.

The Assistant Secretary for Post Secondary Education, Nassar H. Paydar, just doesn’t see the point of fussing with it, you know? Especially as the DoE hasn’t seen any evidence that religious clubs need any more protection than they already have.

…After its thorough review, the Department today issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to rescind a portion of the regulation related to religious student organizations because the Department believes it is not necessary in order to protect the First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion given existing legal protections, it has caused confusion about schools’ nondiscrimination requirements, and it prescribed a novel and unduly burdensome role for the Department in investigating allegations regarding public institutions’ treatment of religious student organizations. We have not seen evidence that the regulation has provided meaningfully increased protection for religious student organizations beyond the robust First Amendment protections that already exist, much less that it has been necessary to ensure they are able to organize and operate on campus.

The DoE thinks there isn’t anything happening with regard to these religious student clubs that are impinging on 1st Amendment rights, and anyway, if there was, they can take whatever beef they have to court. That’s what courts are for. This DoE shouldn’t have to take the time or trouble to sort through every spurious Christian (or otherwise, but MOSTLY CHRISTIAN) complaint that comes their way.

It’s burdensome, confusing, a big pain in the tookus, and the DoE has better things to do.

…Where complex questions over the First Amendment arise, Federal and State courts are best equipped to resolve these matters. In its proposed rule, the Department is proposing to return to this longstanding practice of deferring to courts. If public institutions of higher education (IHEs) do discriminate against religious student organizations on the basis of the organizations’ beliefs or character, such organizations can and do seek relief in the courts, which have longstanding expertise in and responsibility for protecting rights under the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses. Thus, while the Department certainly shares the view that public institutions should not treat religious student organizations less favorably than other student organizations, we do not, at this time, believe that a threat of remedial action with respect to the Department’s grants helps achieve this goal.

That sounds pretty cut and dry. But there’s always an ulterior motive with this bunch. Immediately, my brain says “they’re trying to force clubs out of existence over lawyer’s fees,” but I’m a cynic.

It might not hurt to revisit what Trump’s rule did.

Part of the rule – and you can immediately see where this would irritate the beejeebus out of these woke socialists – concerned the federal dollar flow to universities. If a case did make it to court and was successfully adjudicated for the club/group or the school didn’t allow said group access to everything other groups had access to, the federal grant money stopped.

…The Education Department issued the rule Wednesday, less than two months before the election, and cements much of what President Donald Trump outlined in a March 2019 executive order demanding wider speech protections at U.S. colleges. In taking up the issue, Trump highlighted concerns from conservatives who complained that their voices had been suppressed on university campuses.

As part of the policy, the Education Department can suspend or terminate grants to public universities found in court to have violated the First Amendment. In extreme cases, schools could become ineligible for any additional grants. The same actions could be taken against private universities found in court to have violated their own speech codes.

Public universities could also lose funding if they fail to provide religious student groups the same rights and benefits as other campus groups, including the use of campus facilities and access to student fee funding. That edict does not apply to private colleges, which have more flexibility in limiting speech on their campuses.

Hay-yull, yeah, this DoE is tanking that. But here’s where it gets tricksier, despite the Assistant Secretary’s disingenuous assurances to the contrary.

…This proposed recission does not alter the Department’s commitment to religious freedom, which is enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as a fundamental human right that contributes to the vibrancy, diversity, and strength of our nation. This proposed rescission also does not alter the Department’s commitment to emphasize the importance of First Amendment protections, including religious freedom protections, at public IHEs. The Department will continue to encourage all IHEs to protect students’ opportunities to associate with fellow members of their religious communities, to share the tenets of their faith with others, and to express themselves on campus about religious and nonreligious matters alike.

What the Trump rule also did was provide campus religious clubs with an extra 1st Amendment shield against an onslaught of woke DEI driven university-wide membership mandates.

…A variety of religious groups welcomed the policies, saying that colleges too often discriminate against students based on their faith. Some groups cited a 2018 case at the University of Iowa, which disbanded several religious groups that declined to adopt a policy forbidding discrimination based on, among other classifications, sexual orientation or preference.

The university launched its crackdown after a gay student was rejected from a leadership position in a campus Christian group.

In its policy, the Education Department specifically forbids colleges from discriminating against religious student groups based on “leadership standards” that are “informed by sincerely held religious beliefs.”

It worked for everyone in faith-based university organizations and fellowships.

…Greg Jao, a spokesman for the evangelical Christian group InterVarsity Fellowship, said the rule is needed to protect student groups that want leaders who agree with their religious beliefs. “Universities should welcome all religious groups equally, in order to encourage tolerance, pluralism and religious diversity,” he said in a statement.

The policy benefits Muslim student groups by allowing them to choose their own leaders according to their faith’s principles, said Ismail Royer, director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute.

Of course, the universities and activists hated it.

Now it looks as if they’ll once again have their shot at targeting these infuriating religion-based groups for infiltration and intimidation. For example, possibly forcing a Christian club to accept an abortion advocate in a leadership position. Telling the Muslim group they have to accept the trans-activist on their board. Bend the knee, or the clubs will be removed from campus for violating the inclusion mandates.

Breaking down those faith-based barriers was already in motion across many campuses, and the Trump rule put a stop to it.

In 2018, Wayne State University threw the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship off campus for requiring Christians in the club’s leadership. The Becket Fund joined their lawsuit.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a student group, was recently kicked off the Michigan-based Wayne State University’s campus, solely for asking it be allowed to choose leaders who share its faith. Until this trouble with the school, the student group had been on campus for over 75 years. Incidents like this have been occurring on college campuses recently at an alarming rate.

Late yesterday afternoon, just two days after InterVarsity asked a federal court to protect its right to choose leaders who affirm its faith, Wayne did an about-turn and decided to allow them back on campus — at least temporarily.

Still, issues like this are not just a violation of free speech — they send a disturbing, overt message to the rest of us about what’s ahead for the public square.

The Biden administration is determined to return us to that monitored, mandated, and structured public square.

…Lori Windham, Senior Legal Counsel at Becket which represents InterVarsity, said in a statement: “Don’t Michigan universities have bigger problems than who leads Bible studies? Wayne State should focus on educating students instead of playing belief police.”

To our eternal detriment and sorrow, the malevolent “belief police” are in charge at the moment.