EDUCATION/RELIGION: “Religious colleges would be able to bar openly same-sex relationships without fear of repercussions.
Religious student groups could block people who do not share their faith from becoming members.
Controversial speakers would have more leverage when they want to appear at colleges.
A 590-page higher-education bill working its way through Congress is a wish list for a wide range of people, groups and colleges saying that their First Amendment rights — freedom of speech, religion or assembly — are being trampled. Many of them are religious, right-leaning or both, and the Republicans behind the bill have eagerly taken up the cause, correcting what they see as antipathy toward conservative beliefs on American campuses…
The bill’s religious elements reflect the continuing national debate over whether the First Amendment covers actions that might otherwise be called discriminatory… The far-reaching bill also includes a measure inspired by Harvard’s campaign to kill off single-sex social clubs. It would stop colleges from punishing fraternities and sororities for refusing to admit members of the opposite sex…
The bill passed the education committee on a party-line vote of 23 to 17 in December, giving it a good chance of passing the full House, though its prospects in the Senate, where it would need some Democratic converts, are unclear. Lobbyists for advocacy groups supporting and opposing the measures said it was possible some would be stricken or watered down to ‘statements of principle’ with less legal force.”
-Anemona Hartocollis, “Republicans Tack a Conservative Campus Wish List to a Major Education Bill,” The New York Times online, Feb. 1, 2018