New U.S. Law Has Schools in a Quandary Over Religious Clubs

When President Reagan signed the Equal Access Act into law in August, he answered the prayers of a Carlsbad High School student named Detlev Obst.

Obst, 17, had long dreamed of establishing a Bible study group on campus, so the new law--which prohibits high schools from discriminating against students who want to conduct religious meetings--appeared to be a godsend.

“My pastor gave me a copy of the law,” said Obst, who was born in Germany and moved to Carlsbad with his mother three years ago. “I thought it opened the door for us to start a Christian club at Carlsbad High.”

But Obst and 109 of his peers who signed a petition supporting formation of the Bible study group soon learned that the law was no friend of theirs.

Fearful that permitting one religious club to meet on campus would force officials to open school grounds to cults or extremist political organizations, the Carlsbad school district’s trustees have tentatively approved a policy banning any student club not directly tied to the curriculum.

If adopted at a board meeting Feb. 13, the policy would force Carlsbad High School’s existing non-academic student clubs --including the ski club, the surf club and the Carlsbad chapter of MECHA, a national Latino student group--to disband.

“This law has forced us to say no to what may be a perfectly legitimate student group in order to protect our students from extreme, controversial and disruptive organizations seeking a forum on campus,” said Carlsbad High School Principal Patricia Burden. “Once we allow one group access, we’re bound legally to allow any and all groups in. And we simply don’t feel comfortable with that.”

School board President Jim McCormick agreed, calling the proposed policy “a little too strict, but possibly the only way for us to exert some control over the messages presented on campus.”

The Equal Access Act, promoted by conservative congressmen, prohibits federally financed high schools from adopting campus meeting policies that discriminate “on the basis of the religious, political, philosophical, or other content of speech.”

Under the law, if a district permits one “non-curriculum-related student group” to meet on campus, it must grant others the same privilege. Its passage was essentially an attempt to return prayer to public schools, or at least to make it available there.

School officials worry that without the policy, groups from the Ku Klux Klan to followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon would flood the campus. In North County, official concern stems in part from recent actions by anti-abortion and white-power advocates, who have deluged many area campuses with graphic literature.

But Obst and other students disagree with the authorities. They say they don’t need the district’s “protection” and argue that interrupting the free flow of ideas is more dangerous than permitting radical groups to present their pitches on campus.

“The more things we see and hear in school, the more prepared we’ll be to deal with society at large,” said Brendan Busse, Carlsbad High’s student body president. “We don’t mind if they read the Bible on campus so long as they don’t force it on others. And if this policy kills the surf club, the ski club and all of the things that make school livable, a lot of kids are going to be upset.”

Both Burden and board members acknowledge the value of non-academic clubs to student life and say they hope to inject some “flexibility” into the policy before its formal adoption. And at least one board member, J. Edward Switzer, plans to fight the proposed ban because he is “philosophically opposed” to censoring the voices heard on campus.

“I’m bothered that we appear to be so threatened by these different ideas that we are actually doing the opposite of what Congress intended in passing this legislation,” said Switzer, who was absent when his colleagues tentatively approved the policy. “I think there are enough checks and balances in the school system to prevent any real negative force from taking hold.”

Carlsbad is not the first school district to grapple with the Equal Access Act and the controversial church-state separation question it inevitably has raised. Officials in school districts throughout San Diego County and the nation have either adopted policies, are debating their options or are sitting tight and waiting for legal authorities to dispense some advice.

“It’s a very, very delicate matter and, unfortunately, most of us agree that there won’t be any firm legal guidelines until there’s some litigation in this area,” said Joseph Symkowick, chief counsel for the state Department of Education.

Delicate, indeed. In San Juan Capistrano, months of heated debate between school officials and the religious community preceded the Board of Education’s adoption in December of a policy similar to the one at issue in Carlsbad. Others like it have been approved after equally emotional discussion in numerous school districts throughout Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

In Oceanside, school district spokesman Dan Armstrong said that “the religion issue hasn’t come up yet,” but he added that school officials are “encouraging existing clubs to develop some sort of academic emphasis so they conform with the law.”

Vista Supt. Gary Olson, meanwhile, called implementation of the act “a very complicated and sensitive issue” and said the matter “is on the top of our list.”

Not all school districts, however, have taken the route Carlsbad appears to endorse. In October, the San Diego Unified School District adopted a policy allowing any student to request permission to use classroom space for a meeting after school.

“We’ve incorporated the federal law almost verbatim in our procedure,” said Tina Dyer, legal counsel for the district. “True, it does open the door for not only religious groups but also radical groups with a political or philosophical message. But it’s important to remember that these meetings must be student-initiated and are not school-sanctioned.”

Other guidelines under the act require that the meeting be attended by a district staff member, that adult sponsors cannot attend regularly and that monitors be restricted to a “non-participatory role.”

Further, the act notes that the meetings must not “materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of . . . the school” nor “limit the authority of the school . . . to maintain order and discipline.”

It is San Diego’s approach to the act that Carlsbad board member Switzer favors because it “supports important student rights of speech and assembly.”

“I have never opposed, for example, a student Bible study club because the Bible is an extremely important document in a strictly historical sense,” Switzer said. “I see the concern that we may be exposed to various groups that proselytize negative messages. But I believe truly dangerous clubs would never get a staff adviser and therefore never establish.”

Obst and several of his peers agree.

“All we want to do is have nondenominational Bible study and invite interested people to come,” Obst said. “We want to be moral examples for our fellow students, but we won’t force our belief on them. I think the board is being too selective in what they will and will not permit.”