The Biden administration has reversed dozens of Trump-era regulations and Executive Orders — the latest proposal is to eliminate a rule designed to protect religious organizations on college campuses.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) said that Trump’s protection regulation for campus religious groups was “unduly burdensome” and announced a proposed change.
The DOE proposed change (a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking”) seeks to overturn a 2019 Executive Order by then-President Donald Trump titled “Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities.”
That rule, which went into effect in November 2020, “included a provision that enabled the federal government to withhold grants from higher education institutions that imposed restrictions on the operations of religious student groups,” according to The Epoch Times.
DOE Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education Nasser H. Paydar announced on the DOE website that “after reviewing the regulation, the department had proposed to rescind a portion of it relating to religious student organizations.”
Paydar wrote the DOE determined the Trump-era rule was unnecessary and that free speech and religious liberty concerns were not valid “given existing legal protections.”
Paydar added: “The Department today issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to rescind a portion of the regulation related to religious student organizations because the Department believes it is not necessary in order to protect the First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion given existing legal protections.”
Paydar criticized the 2019 Executive Order, claiming, without citing examples, that it “caused confusion” and represented an “unduly burdensome role for the department in investigating allegations regarding public institutions’ treatment of religious student organizations.”
Paydar added: “We have not seen evidence that the [Trump-era] regulation has provided meaningfully increased protection for religious student organizations beyond the robust First Amendment protections that already exist, much less that it has been necessary to ensure they are able to organize and operate on campus.”
Paydar proposes a system whereby the DOE will not act if a college restricts a religious organization’s speech or activities.
“In its proposed rule, the Department is proposing to return to this longstanding practice of deferring to courts. If public institutions of higher education (IHEs) do discriminate against religious student organizations on the basis of the organizations’ beliefs or character, such organizations can and do seek relief in the courts, which have longstanding expertise in and responsibility for protecting rights under the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses,” Paydar wrote.
Conservative and religious rights advocates argue the DOE should not change the regulation as it is needed to safeguard religious groups from arbitrary restrictions.
In Sept. of 2020, First Liberty counsel Keisha Russell wrote: “Disturbingly, over the past few decades, some public universities have effectively evicted religious organizations from campus by stripping these organizations of the right to communicate with students via college emails, websites, and campus-wide events, and deny them funding.”
Russell added: “These universities subjected religious groups to stricter standards than other student groups, requiring religious groups to accept members or leaders that fundamentally disagree with the organization’s beliefs and mission.”
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