Dear Editor,

Thank you for the article and editorial about the disenfranchisement of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on California State University campuses.

I initiated the group that became IVCF at Sonoma State University in the fall of 1962. During the 1964-65 school year I had public debates with a sociology professor who wanted us kicked off campus in the name of “separation of church and state.” The professor lost the debates and IVCF has remained on campus until this year.

Your article states, “The executive order was called to action with diversity in mind.” Since its effect is to deny groups the right to remain diverse, it cannot be claimed to be a step toward diversity. It does nothing except discriminate against religious groups rather than treating them exactly as other groups. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution could possibly be construed to advocate treating Christians as second-class citizens.

We do not have more rights than other citizens and, just as importantly, we do not have fewer rights.

It is a sad day when a university, the most important meeting place of diverse ideas in our culture, must discriminate against one of the most important and influential sets of ideas in the whole history of western civilization.

– Dr. Michael Hayes, Professor, Political Science