Tufts Student Group 'Derecognized,' Accused of Discrimination

As gays and lesbians at Harvard celebrated "Gaypril" with posters, dances and performances, students at Tufts University have been preoccupied by a debate about anti-gay discrimination by a campus group.

The Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) is appealing a decision by the school's student government which "derecognized" it last week after a former member alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation.

A group that is derecognized cannot use "Tufts" in its name, receive a stipend from the student government, meet in classrooms or publicize events as an official student group, The Boston Globe reported.

Julie Catalano, a junior at Tufts and a former member of TCF, brought a complaint to the student government

alleging that the group discriminates based on sexual orientation. She challenged TCF's right to the $6,000 it receives from the student government.

Catalano says a current TCF leader told her she would be ineligible for a leadership position next year because of her belief that homosexual activity is not wrong, according to The Globe.

Catalano identifies herself as bisexual, students and TCF members said.

The Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ), the judicial branch of student government, derecognized the group on April 13, declaring that it violated the Tufts nondiscrimination policy.

TCF is an affiliate of InterVarsity, an international organization for evangelical Christian college students.

Both TCF and TCUJ said that the decisions are based on belief, not practice.

TCF's website says that Catalano was denied a leadership position because of "her religious beliefs about sexual practice and her interpretation of Scripture on this issue," not because of her sexual orientation itself.

"[TCF] would not allow a straight person who believed that homosexuality was fine to be a leader," said Adam J. Biacchi, a first-year student and a member of TCUJ.

And the student government's decision was based on TCF's belief that homosexual practice is wrong and not because Catalano was denied a position.

Biacchi said that TCUJ members decided that such a belief is not compatible with Tufts' stance on nondiscrimination.

The university was not involved in the student government's decision, and administrators have commented little. TCUJ is a part of student government, but the university will be involved in the appeals process.

The Committee on Student Life, which oversees TCUJ and its student-run legislative counterpart, is comprised of faculty and students with faculty in the majority, Biacchi said. Last Thursday, it met to review procedures for hearing TCF's appeal, which will occur either next week or next semester.

The same day, an advertisement appeared in the Tufts Daily newspaper, in which over 25 students, professors and organizations attached their name to a letter by Catalano stating that they support Tufts' nondiscrimination policy.

The Tufts Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC) has voiced approval of TCUJ's decision.

"Honestly, I think TCF screwed up," wrote TTLGBC co-coordinator Elizabeth M. Fischer in an e-mail message. "Now they're all saying that Julie was denied a leadership position because she no longer agreed with their interpretation of Scripture. The truth is that they no longer want her as a leader because she's queer."

"The TCF is trying to dictate to members how the Scripture should be interpreted," she added. "I think that's wrong too."

But in their appeal, TCF and InterVarsity have argued that many religious groups on campus also hold beliefs that violate the university's anti-discrimination policy.

"Their main argument is that you can't regulate beliefs," Biacchi said. "The other argument is, we're giving you money so you have to adopt what we believe is right."

Biacchi said the issue has generated interest from local and national media.

"You cannot go through a day without having a viewpoint in our newspaper now, there's just so much debate," he said.

He said he thinks most students approve of the decision to derecognize the group.

"I would say that the majority of students at Tufts, being that most colleges are liberal, support the decision, but there's definitely a voice that does not approve of it," he said.

But Biacchi added that much of the debate has been kept alive by outsiders and is not omnipresent in campus life.

"People are interested in it as an issue," said Michael A. Lamson, a sophomore at Tufts. "But I don't necessarily think people will go out of their way to protest.

"I think it's been a bigger deal...in terms of national media...that's where I've come to find out that it's a bigger deal," Lamson added.

Fischer said she noticed the same phenomenon.

"Not too many people are very active about the issue any more because we've all gotten very bogged down in our work," she said. "Some students do still discuss it, but most of the ones I've spoken to agree with how the TCUJ handled the situation."