Is this legal?
Why wouldn’t it be legal? I presume that South Carolina doesn’t prohibit discrimination by sexual orientation as some states do.
Well, same sex marriage is recognized in South Carolina, but I’m not sure if colleges have a different source of power than the state government.
Legalities aside, I’m truly disappointed. Come on. It’s 2015. I feel bad for the two players. I hope that they transfer soon to a college that will accept them for who they are.
Aren’t there plenty of religious (=Christian evangelical / fundamentalist) colleges that ban gay behavior? I wouldn’t see why they couldn’t ban such behavior. I can’t imagine it’s “allowed” at Bob Jones or Liberty U either.
And they immediately jump to quoting bible scripture. I fail to understand how the bible has a place in forming policy at a supposed liberal arts college.
This is ridiculous. They’re going to BAN homosexuality? Yeah…good luck with that. I’m sure it’ll go very well.
The article linked contradicts its own title, which I guess shouldn’t surprise me any more.
There’s no real way to ‘ban’ LGBT people, even if there was a formal policy; it’s not like “gaydar” is real. All they can really do is promote harassment or bullying among their student community, which is just as pernicious and sad as an outright ban.
There’s no law but according to the article in some cases accreditation boards can give the schools a hard time. Which makes sense, because the same freedom of conscience that allows private colleges to be anti-gay allows the private accreditation boards to be anti-anti-gay…
^They have a religious association with the Associate Reformed Presbyterians. So they are basically a conservative Christian college. Also not clear that they have actually “banned” anything.
http://news.erskine.edu/context-for-erskines-statement-on-human-sexuality/
Yes, regulating or banning sexual behaviors by students is legal. Church-run institutions (as opposed to private individuals or for-profit businesses, which have their own, more complicated, rules) have enormous legal leeway to operate as they see fit. A private school can expel a student for having straight sex, for making statements of faith that conflict with the school’s position, or almost any other action, even if those actions are otherwise constitutionally protected.
Mormon colleges (e.g. BYU) are famous for banning premarital sex on campus of all kinds. They’re certainly within legal grounds regardless of the morality as a private school (especially if they’re associated with a church).
Wow! Stop press! A small bible based college denounces homosexuality! I’m thinking Pulitzer for this reporter.
Whether it’s legal or not, it agrees with the reputation of Southern schools for being exclusionary, reactionary and out-of-date. If the school is happy with that, I guess that’s their prerogative, but the next time someone complains that the South is unfairly stereotyped for this kind of behavior, I hope they’ll realize they can’t have it both ways. If you complacently argue that schools should be free to exclude and reject their own students for what most people regard as everyday human behavior, then you need to accept that many people, whether they themselves are gay or not. might not want to attend school in a punitive and judgemental environment.
Won’t be too effective on the scale of things, since its 2015 and its expected to condone sin nowadays, but hey, good for them for taking a stand.
While I agree that much of the South is often behind the times in terms of acceptance of ideas which are mainstream in other regions (and I live in the South), Erskine College is a private Christian school.
Off the top of my head, Biola (CA), Colorado Christian (CO), Cedarville (OH), Houghton (NY), and Seattle Pacific (WA) all have similar prohibitions. None are in the South.
@marysidney: I’d encourage you to use your superior northern intellect to actually read the article the OP linked – with particular attention to the last paragraph – and then get back to us.
Best personal regards,
SOG
Albert, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Christ never said a word about homosexuality.
What did the Big Fella say about tarring everyone who lives in a particular region of the country with the same stereotypical brush? Or are you allowed to chuck rocks for that?
@marysidney I never said I wasn’t a sinner, I am and everybody is. I don’t think that homosexuality is the be-all and end-all of sins, nor do I hate homosexuals. Homosexuality is just one of the many sins outlined in the Bible.
My point is, if you don’t like the stereotype, it behooves you to reject the behavior that supports it.
While I do not condone this policy, it always amazes me that queer people want to go to a religious college. As a queer woman myself, I avoid religious institutions like the plague. I get enough negativity in life- why add to it voluntarily?
On another note, this is another reason why I believe that absolutely NO private colleges, religious or otherwise, should get tax-payer funded resources (pell, direct loans, etc). I sure as hell do not want my tax dollars supporting this crap.
What people are trying to say is that this isn’t really a Southern school problem. There are plenty of schools in other regions of the country with the same severe flaws. It’s not as if this is public policy or state government policy. It’s rather tedious that there are still people going on and on about the supposed “sin” of homosexuality but making this college’s statement the ‘sin’ of all Southerners is pretty silly especially since it’s so easy to show that it’s not that way at all.