University Chaplain David O'Leary is looking into the relationship between InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) and its affiliated chapter, Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), after students raised concerns that IVCF staff members wield undue influence over the student group and that both organizations conduct discriminatory practices.
O'Leary initiated a series of discussions with TCF and IVCF leaders after hearing student concerns about the groups' relationship and discriminatory practices last month. O'Leary said he is now determining whether the concerns are valid, and given his plans to leave Tufts at the end of the semester, will brief his successor on the issue if a conclusion is not reached by the semester's completion.
This process follows a Tufts Community Union (TCU) Judiciary complaint lodged by four students on Nov. 19, alleging that TCF's constitution contradicts university policy by requiring that members of the Vision and Planning Team (VPT), its student leadership, uphold specified religious tenets.
The students rescinded the complaint lodged with the Judiciary two days later, opting instead to await the results of O'Leary's inquiry and pursue their own discussions with TCF's leadership before considering further action with the Judiciary, according to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Representative Grainne Griffiths, one of the students who lodged the complaint with the Judiciary.
Such concerns are not entirely new; TCF gained national attention in 2000, when the Judiciary ruled that TCF and IVCF staff member Jody Chang had denied Julie Catalano (LA '01) a leadership position on the basis of her sexual orientation.
Following a series of hearings, the Judiciary placed TCF on probation.
The Judiciary determined that TCF discriminated against Catalano because it held her to different standards from a heterosexual student, but held that university policy allowed student organizations to mandate that leaders hold certain beliefs so long as all students are held to an equal standard.
The group subsequently adopted a new constitution that affirmed the university's non-discrimination policy, implemented a more democratic leadership selection process and lessened IVCF's influence on the group.
Concerns regarding discrimination in leadership selection
Article IV of TCF's constitution dictates that the group does not "discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, disability or an individual's previous affiliations in criteria for membership, assignment of voting privileges or rank."
Article VI of TCF's constitution requires that VPT members "advocate and conform their lives" to the group's five-part Basis of Faith and also "abid[e] by and advocat[e] traditional evangelical Christian norms of personal behavior," including, among other things, "sexual chastity."TCF's Basis of Faith, is identical to IVCF's Doctrinal Basis, as IVCF's document existed prior to October 2000.
Griffiths, a sophomore, said the leadership requirements regarding religious beliefs and practices enable discrimination based on sexual orientation because sexual chastity norms are applied unequally to straight and LGBT students.
"Chastity is interpreted differently for straight people and queer people, being that if you're straight you can still be chaste and have a typical romantic relationship, holding hands and stuff, but if you're LGBTQ-identified, then no contact. You have to be celibate," Griffiths said. "That shouldn't be happening under a non-discrimination policy which protects sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression."
Junior Brandon Archambault, one of the four students who submitted the complaint to the Judiciary, believes that TCF's leadership requirements go beyond preventing LGBT individuals from acquiring positions on the VPT, but also discriminate based on other characteristics and behaviors.
"The constitution allows for discrimination on the basis of religion, sexual chastity and culture," he said. "[If TCF held elections,] say someone is a Christian dating a non-Christian: they wouldn't be allowed to run for a position. Say someone is gay: They're not allowed to run for a position. Say someone does not adhere to a conservative Protestant theology or Catholic theology: They wouldn't be allowed to run for anything."
VPT Member Wai Cheng, a senior, acknowledged that TCF's sexual chastity requirements would permit students to engage in heterosexual relationships, so long as they were not sexually active and were letting God lead the relationship, but not same-sex relationships, adding that the rule reflects TCF's religious beliefs.
"You can date, but according to our beliefs, in a heterosexual relationship," Cheng said. "It is basically an expression of our views as a religious group."
Alex Nesbeda (LA '06), current team leader of the IVCF staff at Tufts, explained that "sexual chastity" traditionally means that one's sexuality is "directed by Christ," adding that IVCF and TCF interpret Scripture to mean that God intends for people to enter lifetime, one-man-one-woman marriages.
"If there's a student who is sleeping with someone, I don't care who it is, they're not actually living a sexually chaste lifestyle … If there's a student who is actively engaged in a homosexual relationship, that's also not sexually chaste," Nesbeda said.
Nesbeda distinguished between cases where students consciously disagree with an aspect of TCF's Basis of Faith, and those in which a student's struggle may inhibit them from living out the Basis of Faith in a way that leadership requires.
"The first question is, ‘can you in good conscience believe and advocate for … our statement of faith,' and ‘are you seeking to the best of your abilities to live out your faith?'" Nesbeda said. "The issue becomes when somebody says, ‘Actually no, I don't believe in what the group is about,' and then I'm like, ‘Well then, why would you want to be a leader of this group?'"
Some students may need to decide whether their own personal struggles could inhibit them from successfully fulfilling a leadership position, she explained.
"For me my question for them is, ‘Given the fact that you're struggling with this issue, is it actually helpful for you to be a leader?' And those are the kinds of pastoral questions that I talk with students about, because when you're a leader, leadership is about not only getting up front and leading a Bible study, but it's actually about living out what it is that you're inviting others to live out, so if that's something that is really difficult for you, maybe this is a reason for you to really work through those issues and then come on leadership later," Nesbeda said.
Nesbeda believes, however, that all students can choose to uphold the tenets of TCF's Basis of Faith. She noted that an individual's sexual orientation does not necessarily preclude them from obtaining a leadership position.
"There are many people who are celibate who say, ‘This is how I identify myself, this is an issue that I'm struggling with, but I'm choosing to actually believe something, the statement of belief, and I'm choosing to live a certain way,'" she said. "That's more than fine."
Cheng said the requirement that VPT members uphold TCF's Basis of Faith is an important component of the group's ability to promote its evangelical faith.
"The purpose that TCF plays is that we are evangelical and we are Christian, and we do create a space for people at Tufts to come and explore that viewpoint," Cheng said. "As the leadership who plans those events, being able to say that yes, you do adhere to these views is important for the club to exist on campus."
Nesbeda considers a group's ability to define leadership qualifications necessary to protect religious freedom, as religious organizations need to have leaders who uphold their respective faiths.
"If we want to have a diverse community on campus, are we actually creating space for students with more conservative religious beliefs?" Nesbeda said. "If you take away norms for leadership you're actually asking students to compromise the integrity of their faith."
Questions about the IVCF/TCF relationship
Griffiths also raised concerns that IVCF wields an inappropriate level of influence over TCF.
Advisers to student religious groups at Tufts are prohibited from exerting a controlling influence, which could include directing the expenditure of TCU funds or selecting student leadership, O'Leary said.
"Chaplains, my chaplains, do not control their own religious groups. So I guess the question is, how much less should non-Tufts people be controlling a student group?" O'Leary said. "If you look at the 2000 ruling, this was made clear."
TCF voluntarily affiliates with IVCF and in turn receives IVCF resources, including IVCF staff members on campus as well as a framework, personalized leadership development and pastoral care, according to Nesbeda.
TCF's constitution stipulates that IVCF staff members may attend meetings and advise the group's members and leaders, but do not vote in TCF decisions, do not speak for the group in an official capacity, do not enter into binding agreements on behalf of the group and their participation in TCF is subject to the VPT's approval. There are currently six IVCF staff members working with TCF, three of whom graduated from Tufts in the past five years.
Cheng described the relationship between IVCF and TCF as a partnership in which IVCF staff members provide valuable guidance, but VPT members make all final decisions.
"We do have our meetings, and they're there for that," Cheng said. "The Vision and Planning Team makes the decisions, but they do advise us."
"It's obviously good to just have people to go to who have been here for several years to come and give us advice about the events that we are planning," Cheng said. "With the Bible studies and stuff, it always helps to have someone more experienced looking over it."
Griffiths raised concerns that IVCF staff members exert undue influence over TCF's leadership selection process, whereby the VPT drafts a slate of candidates from an initial pool of applicants and then submits that slate for approval by more than 50 percent of TCF's membership.
She expressed worries that IVCF unduly influences the selection of the slate, a process during which the VPT consults other TCF members and also IVCF staff members.
Cheng said the selection process started for him last spring when he submitted an application to the VPT and subsequently met with a VPT student leader and also with members of the IVCF staff to learn more about the position.
Initial conversations with applicants cover a broad range of topics, including the group's statement of faith as well as whether the applicant is willing and capable of upholding the group's ideals, Nesbeda said.
"Generally [VPT has] people go through the statement of faith as well, to what extent is this something that you can believe and advocate for, something that you're about … the different lifestyle questions that come up in the behavioral norms section of this is what it means to live out your faith," Nesbeda said.
Afterward, the VPT deliberates among itself and with IVCF staff before the VPT makes its final decision, she explained.
"The student leaders and the staff will talk through what are the issues that have come up for people, what are some things that may be helpful to have another conversation about because different people have thought about these issues differently," Nesbeda said. "I provide advice and council, but I do not vote at the end of the day."
Cheng said that such a thorough leadership selection process is warranted for TCF, because members of the VPT are not elected individually and act as a team. Therefore, it is important to ensure that they can work well together.
Cheng also said the leadership selection process for lower-level positions, such as leaders of small group Bible studies, is similar to that for the VPT.
