RALEIGH, N.C. — Bills protecting organizational rights of student groups and student-led prayer are advancing in the North Carolina Senate.
The Senate Education Committee signed off on two bills Wednesday intended to protect free expression in schools and colleges.
One measure gives student organizations at the state’s public colleges and universities the right to select leaders and govern themselves without interference from administrators, so long as their actions don’t violate state or federal law. Another bill clarifies students’ rights to religious expression as long as they don’t disrupt public schools.
Sen. Dan Soucek, R-Watauga and the sponsor of the student organization bill, said he decided to craft legislation after hearing from a religiously affiliated group that isn’t able to demote leaders if they stray from the group’s beliefs. He didn’t name the group.
“That right there was the impetus, thinking it seems a student organization should be able to make that decision within the bounds of the law,” he said.
No state law governing the authority of student organizations currently exists. Some Democrats, however, questioned the need for the law and wanted to know specific cases where colleges have trampled on student rights.
Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the conservative N.C. Values Coalition, cited a 2003 case at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At that time an administrator threatened the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship with the loss of funding because it held leaders to the group’s religious doctrine.
