Right Side of College
Part three of our higher education series
In January of last year, the Biden administration issued an executive order titled, “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.” The next month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a directive that extended housing to include dormitories, bathrooms, and showers on all college campuses. This directive further required that the Fair Housing Act be enforced in a way that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Freshmen at the College of the Ozarks take part in a new required course, “Patriotic Education and Fitness.”
In part two of this series, we looked at two better-known private colleges, Hillsdale College and Grove City College. In different ways these colleges both lean to the right side of the political and cultural spectrum. Another conservative college is the College of the Ozarks in Missouri. That school still believes men and women can’t simply self-identify as something other than their biological sex and has taken the Biden administration to court. The college still has separate dorms for the 1,500 men and women enrolled. It charges no tuition for full-time students but instead requires fifteen hours of on-campus work per week, and forty hours during breaks. The school, which emphasizes character in education, has registered the trademark “Hard Work U.” Based on their religious beliefs, the college applied for and received a Title IX exemption in 2018.
President Biden signs executive orders
Passed in 1972, Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government. This has brought equal funding for women’s sports programs. In the early days, few objected to the new regulations, and few schools sought an exemption. However, in 2010 the Obama administration issued an executive order placing gay and lesbian students within the scope of Title IX protections. Christian schools attempting to uphold biblical values would now have to admit homosexual students if they otherwise qualified. If two same-sex students married, violating the school’s beliefs, they couldn’t be expelled. The Trump administration revoked the guidance but, the Biden administration restored and expanded it. Now, students that simply identify as another gender must be accommodated under Title IX. As you can imagine, this has led to a flood of exemption requests from Christian schools.
However, the new Biden administration executive order and resulting HUD directive radically changed the status quo by requiring “entities covered by the Fair Housing Act to not ‘discriminate’ based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” So, males who identify as women must now be housed in women’s dorms, and they have the right to use those bathrooms and showers.
In the College of the Ozarks case, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is assisting with the court case. So far, the school has been denied both an injunction and temporary restraining order, which would have prevented HUD from enforcing its egregious directive while the case is pending. If the school loses, it will face further investigations, enforcement actions, and fines exceeding half a million dollars.
Because of Title IX and the Biden administration executive order, Christian and conservative schools have either had to surrender or fight. Those that fight face significant legal challenges and expenses. One way to find colleges resisting the current trend is to visit the Campus Pride website. The LGBTQ organization maintains what they call the Worst List. Most schools make this list by resisting Title IX and Biden administration gender identity and sexual orientation orders.
There is another way to find schools fighting to preserve “their freedom and independence.” A small, but growing number of colleges will not accept grants from the federal government or any federal financial aid including student-loan funds. Most of these schools also refuse state and local funds. Hillsdale College has taken that stand. Click here for a complete list of those schools.
For parts one and two of this series click here and here.
Have you found this series of articles helpful? Have they helped you find a college or university that aligns with your belief? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
