Georgetown University officials citing a desire to centralize the administration of
Protestant campus ministry groups, severed its ties with all of its affiliated ministry organizations last week, barring many long-established religious groups from operating on campus according to a report in The Hoya.
Groups that include the InterVarsity, the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and Crossroad Campus Christian Fellowship will be unable to conduct activities if they are not run solely by students which many are not since they are operated by churches or other outside groups.
In a letter to the ministries from Protestant Chaplain Team Leader Rev. Constance C. Wheeler said as a result of a change in direction they were severing their ties with the organizations. The letter also stated that “all websites linking your ministries to a presence at Georgetown University will need to be modified to reflect the terminated relationship”. Wheeler ended by saying that “While we realize this comes as a great disappointment, please know we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord.” And that the ministries will “always be kept in our prayers.”
The University is certainly free to implement any policy that it sees fit to, but what really upsets the now banned groups is the way the school chose to inform them. Several people who spoke to The Hoya said that they attended a meeting last week with administrators in which they announced the policy but prevented any feedback or discussion.
According to Tim Ratp an adult leader of the Campus Crossroad Christian Fellowship the administration was apparently concerned that they didn’t know what the groups were doing on campus, yet when invited to attend some of their meetings they refused to come.
Unfortunately for students, Georgetown like many other universities and colleges may preach freedom of speech and religion, but they practice something quite different.
Don Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy in Media, Accuracy in Academia’s parent organization.
