College of the Ozarks v. Biden

College of the Ozarks, a Christian liberal arts university in Missouri, recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging the reinterpretation of the word “sex” in the Fair Housing Act. In January, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order to prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation in response to the outcome of Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the Supreme Court asserted an employee cannot be discriminated against based on his or her sexual orientation under Title VII. Biden’s executive order extends to the housing policies at universities in the United States by preventing the discrimination of students in dormitories. College of the Ozarks objects to the order as they believe forcing men and women to share dorms or private spaces, including restrooms and showers, violates their religious beliefs. In a press release about the complaint, the college wrote, “College of the Ozarks holds to the Christian belief that biological sex is not changeable, and it operates its dorms accordingly.” 

(Alliance Defending Freedom).

According to the College of the Ozarks v. Biden lawsuit filed, “Students are not required to belong to a particular faith or religion to attend the College, or to hold particular religious beliefs.” They are, however, “expected to adhere to Christian values and expectations as a matter of its code of conduct.” The code of conduct published by the private university includes a “Lifestyle/Sexuality Policy” prohibiting, “gender expression inconsistent with sex assigned at birth”, gender transition, sexual relations outside of marriage, and same-sex sexual relations. Additionally, the school has strict rules regarding men and women entering the dorms of the opposite sex and assign residence halls to keep men and women on opposite sides of campus. While Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or gender identity, College of the Ozarks practices Christian values and therefore enforces their belief of sexuality. College of the Ozarks believe allowing students of the opposite sex to occupy the same dorm rooms or residence halls encourages students to engage in sexual relations. The directive also forces the college to acknowledge a student’s gender identity which conflicts with the Christian belief in one’s immutable biological sex. Lastly, the directive would censor the speech of the university about housing to align with the goals of Biden’s executive order.

Setting aside my personal beliefs about the content of the code of conduct, I do not believe College of the Ozarks, or other religiously affiliated universities with conflicting beliefs about gender identity or sexual orientation, should be legally obligated to abandon their religious beliefs under this directive. While I do believe there is a substantial national interest in preventing gender- and sex-based discrimination at universities, I also believe abiding by this directive places a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion of the students at College of the Ozarks as well as the school mission. We have discussed various cases in class that have introduced the complication with respect to national funding of religiously affiliated universities whose beliefs conflict national goals of inclusion. In agreeance with the majority decision of Bob Jones University v. United States, I do not believe a private institution should receive public funding or taxpayer exemptions if the school practices discrimination or promotes policies that conflict with national goals. College of the Ozarks v. Biden, however, raises questions of about obliging institutions, who enforce religious values, to conform to national developments which directly burden religious practices. I believe that asking the college to house a student based on gender identity, rather than biological sex if the two conflict, forces the university to go against their religious beliefs, which is a substantial burden. The school has structured their campus and lifestyle expectations around the Christian belief of heterosexual celibacy. The school therefore believes that shifting to all-gendered residences will burden their mission in enforcing celibacy. While I believe there is substantial secular purpose in the Biden administration signing the recent executive order, the free exercise law guarantees private religious institutions the ability to make administrative decisions guided by their religious practice. I believe the college may face scrutiny as the trial develops, however, I ultimately think it will be difficult to hold College of the Ozarks or other religiously affiliated universities to the directive without violating their First Amendment right to free exercise. 

References
Alliance Defending Freedom. 2021. Missouri college challenges Biden order that opens dorms, showers to opposite sex. April 15. https://adflegal.org/press-release/missouri-college-challenges-biden-order-opens-dorms-showers-opposite-sex.
Joseph Biden, Jr. 2021. Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation. January 20. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/.
Kramer, Sarah. 2021. An Alarming Biden Rule Could Mean Opposite-Sex Roommates in College Dorms. April 15. https://adflegal.org/blog/alarming-biden-rule-could-mean-opposite-sex-roommates-college-dorms.