COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Friday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost led a coalition of 21 states in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Education urging the department to maintain a rule that requires public universities to comply with the First Amendment or lose grant funding.
The rule, established in 2020 to implement Supreme Court precedent, prohibits public universities from denying religious student groups “any right, benefit or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the public institution” because of a group’s “beliefs, practices, policies, speech, membership standards or leadership standards, which are informed by sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The Biden Administration has considered rescinding the protection, citing confusion and burden, but Yost and the coalition argue that religious freedom is neither confusing nor burdensome. The coalition’s letter contends that religious student organizations are being singled out for attack and that the existing rule provides the necessary protection. Removing the rule, they argue, would conflict with Supreme Court rulings forbidding the government from weaponizing against religion and would impose “irreparable harm to students for no federal benefit.”
The attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia co-signed the letter with Yost.
