Less than a week before going to trial, ASU and the Christian Legal Society reached an agreement that will allow religious groups to exclude students based on religion but not sexual orientation.
The settlement came in response to a lawsuit CLS filed in late 2004, saying ASU denied the group its right to associate freely and choose its members. According to CLS's Web site, all members must sign a statement saying they are Christian and will adhere to Christian morals, which would have violated ASU's non-discrimination policy.
The agreement stated ASU would allow religious student organizations to discriminate on the basis of religion but not sexual orientation, ASU spokeswoman Terri Shafer said.
"If you're a religious student organization, you can require people to be part of your religion," Shafer said.
Shafer said this policy applies only to religious student organizations.
Lawyers for ASU and the Alliance Defense Fund -- the legal group representing CLS -- reached the agreement Friday. The trial would have begun Wednesday.
CLS sued ASU for denying the group an exemption to the Student Code of Conduct, said Nancy Tribbensee, ASU associate vice presiden t for legal affairs.
Because they required members to sign a statement of faith, CLS said it could not agree to ASU's non-discrimination policy, which prohibited "discriminatory activities ... on the basis of age, ethnicity, gender, disability, color, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status."
Shortly after CLS filed the lawsuit, a group called the Coalition Against Discrimination formed to pressure the ASU to stand behind the policy, said Kyrsten Sinema, the group's adviser.
"I'm disappointed that the school caved, even on one aspect of discrimination," said Tracy Brown, a founding member of the coalition and second-year law student. "We should be learning from differing viewpoints, not excluding people."
Brown said the main issue was that University-recognized student organizations are eligible to receive funding from the Associated Students of ASU. According to ASASU officials, that funding comes from tuition dollars.
"You can discriminate, or you can get funding, but not both," Brown said.
Bethany Lewis, president of CLS at ASU, said she was satisfied with the terms of the settlement.
"I am pleased that ASU came forward and finally saw our point of view, and recognized our constitutional rights," she said.
Dale Furnish, assistant adviser and professor emeritus in the ASU college of law, said requiring members of a Christian student organization to be Christian is a form of "common sense discrimination."
"You have to be a woman to be on the women's swimming team," he said.
Reach the reporter at emilia.arnold@asu.edu.
