The scrap between a Christian student group and the University of Wisconsin-Superior may be over after a change of wording in a policy passed Friday by the Board of Regents.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was rejected as a campus organization by a student government committee at UWS last semester. The committee contended that since the fellowship required its leaders to be Christian it discriminated against non-Christians. The group, which has chapters around the country and UW System, sued.
But the Board of Regents re-wrote the policy about student groups. It still bans discrimination on the basis of religion and other things, but adds wording that UWS Chancellor Julius Erlenbach said gives student groups flexibility.
"That's a little different than things used to be and so a step in a different direction. I think it's a reasonable direction," he said.
Erlenbach hopes it will end the controversy. UWS InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Advisor Ralph Seelke said the proposal looks promising.
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"I'll be glad to have it over. My general feeling is that this is some sort of unreality that something that should be in the realm of common sense, but I guess that's the world we live in," Seelke said
Seelke and Erlenbach both hope this change will end the lawsuit and get InterVarsity Christian Fellowship full recognition as a student group. The next step is up to UWS student government.
Jim Paine, director of the UWS Student Senate, said he is fairly certain the new policy will change his current recommendation the Christian organization be refused membership.
"It looks handcrafted for IVFC," he said.
Paine said the policy could change his recommendation, but the final decision rests with the Internal/External Affairs Committee and the Student Senate as a whole.
IVCF's status will be addressed at an internal/external affairs committee meeting Thursday.
