The University of Houston-Clear Lake granted a Christian student organization full recognition as a campus student group after a court challenge was filed claiming the school discriminated against by excluding the group as a registered student organization.

Conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom claimed victory after Christian student group Ratio Christi sued the university for claiming it was denied its official student group status on illegal grounds. However, the school rejects the claim that it ever refused official status for the student group.

In a statement, ADF reported that the university quickly granted Ratio Christi recognized status after the legal complaint was filed against school officials last Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

“Ratio Christi has received the good news it deserves. As a result of our legal action, the University of Houston-Clear Lake has now fully recognized the Christian student organization as a registered campus club, giving them equal treatment among their peer groups, ”said Caleb Dalton, ADF Legal Advisor.

“We commend the university and its General Counsel for taking swift action to correct this injustice. Now the university must do the right thing and repeal the unconstitutional policies that are still in place that were used to exclude Ratio Christi, as it demands its leaders to agree with its values ​​and mission.

The university denies that it ever discriminated against Ratio Christi and maintains that the lawsuit was filed while the school was still processing the group’s documents.

“The University of Houston-Clear Lake has approved Ratio Christi as a registered student organization,” University spokesman Shawn Lindsey said in a statement to the Washington Times.

“This is not the reversal of an earlier decision. The request was never denied and was still pending when the lawsuit was filed.”

When a group of students does not have the status of a registered student organization, it cannot reserve space on campus, invite speakers for events, or use funds reserved by the university for groups of students. ‘students.

“UHCL’s refusal to grant Ratio Christi RSO status violates the free exercise, expressive association, freedom of expression and equal protective rights of complainants under the First and Fourteenth Constitutional Amendments of United States, ”the complaint states.

“The First Amendment protects the right of all student organizations to associate around shared beliefs. The fact that UHCL does not respect this right with respect to Ratio Christi is particularly egregious as UHCL treated Ratio Christi differently because of its religious beliefs.

The complaint further claimed that the university was using its anti-discrimination policy to prevent Ratio Christi from receiving RSO status, namely Ratio Christi’s rules that restrict its leadership to Christians.

The legal record alleged that the university’s anti-discrimination policies allowed non-religious student organizations to limit their leadership positions and membership to students who agreed with their mission but would not let religious student groups do the same. .

“Under RSO policies, RSOs cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, mental disability or physical, veteran status, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity and gender expression, that is, unless the organization is the Vietnamese Student Association, the International Student Advisory Council, the Veteran Student Association, a sorority or a sports club team, ”the complaint states.

In 2019, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs moved in with its Ratio Christi chapter after initially banning the group from becoming an official student club.

The settlement included granting the University of Colorado registration status to Ratio Christi upon submission of new documents, payment of $ 20,574 in damages, and a review of the club and organization manual. of the school to include a provision explaining that all student clubs can require leaders to adhere to a particular set of beliefs.

In July, a three-judge panel of the 8th United States Court of Appeals ruled that the University of Iowa discriminated against the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship by striking off the club as an official student group.