British University Bars Christian Group For Discrimination

Wednesday's Birmingham Post reports on a dispute in Britain that is reminiscent of recent battles on a number of U.S. campuses. (See prior postings 1, 2 .) Birmingham University's Student Guild has frozen the assets of the Evangelical Christian Union, and prohibited it from using university facilities for meetings, because the student group refuses to admit non-Christians to membership. The Student Union Guild has demanded that the Christian group amend its constitution to allow people of all faiths to become members and sit on its leadership body. The Guild also objects to the fact that the group's constitution uses the words "men" and "women" instead of "persons", claiming it discriminates against transsexuals. Pod Bhogal, communications director for Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, said: "In all our years of working with hundreds of higher education establishments, this action by Birmingham's guild is unique." (Press release.) The Student Guild, however, said it was merely enforcing the 1994 Education Act that prohibits discrimination by student groups.