College Bans Dormitory Bible Studies

The American Persecution marches forward, this time in the state of stolen elections and cut cheese:

In a shameful attack on freedom of religion, the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UWEC) has banned resident assistants (RAs) from leading Bible studies in their own dormitories.

The university claims the ban is necessary because some students might not feel RAs who lead Bible studies are "approachable.”

"As a state university, UWEC has no business forbidding RAs or any other students to engage in religious activities in their own rooms and on their own time,” declared David French, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which has written UWEC to protest the ban.

Would somebody please explain to me what in the blue hell the UDub-Eeww can possibly mean by "approachable"? And when you conjure up the answer to that question, then you can focus on determining how on Earth they can conclude that Bible study-leading resident assistants don't fit that description. I mean, isn't this profiling? Stereotyping?

Heck, I can save you the research time. The university can't get away with squishing religious liberties in this instance on church-state separation grounds, since the RAs in question were leading Bible studies not as official residence hall activities, but in their own dorm rooms and on their own time. So the best they could do is this "approchability" gimmick, which UWEC Associate Director for Housing and Residence Life Deborah Newman, who imposed the ban, described thusly:

"[Resident assistants] need to be available to...residents both in reality and from their perspective.” [emphasis added]

Leaving aside the snide "in reality" remark, that stipulation seems to apply to RAs in their "official" capacity, not to what they do on their own recognizance. Which would seem to mean that this is unambiguous and actionable religious persecution.

FIRE sure seems to think so:

FIRE reminded Larson of UWEC’s own acknowledgement that RAs are students first, and that "every university student at a public university such as UWEC enjoys the full panoply of First Amendment rights, including freedom of religion and freedom of expression.”...

"UWEC’s position that leading a Bible study is more likely to make students uncomfortable than leading a controversial play like 'The Vagina Monologues' simply doesn’t hold water,” noted FIRE’s French. He continued, "The First Amendment doesn’t end with a Bible study or with 'The Vagina Monologues' — it guarantees a student’s right to perform both.”

"While RAs have a responsibility to be approachable to students, this cannot extend so far as to bar their own religious or political expression,” added FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Greg Lukianoff. "No state institution has a right to demand that others not hold any beliefs or engage in any expression that might possibly be offensive.”

The only thing about this story that really surprises me is that Ms. Newman's ban also applies to Jews and Muslims as well. So I suppose that means that she's an atheistic fascist zealot, but she's not a coward.

For now, anyway. We'll see whether she sticks to that broad front applicability when the fatwas go out against her.

I know how I would bet.