Christian Club Reinstated at California State University After Leadership Religious Test Dispute

Chi Alpha fought back, eventually enlisting the legal aid of the Washington, DC-based group the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

In an official statement released Monday, Chi Alpha considered the reinstatement to be bittersweet given the nature of the compromise.

“Unfortunately, CSU continues to ban religious leadership requirements and to treat religious student groups with less respect than fraternities and sororities,” read the statement in part.

“But because CSU has agreed that Chi Alpha’s students may exercise their own judgment to choose leaders that share their beliefs, we are now able to have access to campus with integrity.”

The Becket Fund directed CP to a press release by the law group wherein legal counsel Adèle Auxier Keim called the CSU decision “a halfway solution.”

“Cal State has adopted a halfway solution that still gives fraternities more rights than campus religious groups. But they’ve acknowledged that students can vote for a candidate who shares their beliefs, and that’s a step in the right direction,” stated Keim.