Three Christian student groups from San Diego State University are suing the 23 campus Cal State System. They say they're being discriminated against because of their beliefs. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has the story.
The student groups require their members to be Christian, and to abide by Christian standards of conduct. Those standards allow them to exclude people based on their religion, marital status, and sexual orientation.
Jeremy Tedesco is a lawyer representing the Christian groups. He says San Diego State won't recognize these groups, and so they can't meet on campus or get university funding, and that's unfair.
Tedesco: "Every group has a right to select their members based on shared beliefs, if the vegetarian club, if they don't want meat eaters, if they don't want hunters, to be members or officers of their club, they don't have to."
A CSU spokeswoman says university officials haven't yet been served with the lawsuit, so she can't comment on the specifics. But she says CSU policy doesn't allow campuses to recognize or fund student groups that discriminate based on race, religion, or national origin. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS news.
