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Brown University offers reinstatement to religious group
The president of the Reformed University Fellowship says the university wasn’t specific about why the group was suspended in the first place.
PROVIDENCE — Brown University yesterday offered an olive branch to an evangelical religious group that had been banned from advertising or meeting on campus, saying the Reformed University Fellowship can be reinstated as an official campus religious group by following a set of rules laid down for other campus organizations.
“Brown University has a long tradition of respecting the right of every student to practice his or her faith,” Michael Chapman, university vice president for public affairs, said in a statement. “Today 20 student religious groups of many different faiths and beliefs enrich the social and cultural life of the entire campus community.”
“The university welcomes the contributions RUF has made to the spiritual life of the campus and has offered to assist RUF in taking the necessary steps to have its affiliation restored,” said Chapman.
On Sept. 13, the group was informed via an e-mail from the university’s chaplain, the Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, that its status as a recognized student organization had been withdrawn.
Yesterday, Ethan Wingfield, president of the Reformed University Fellowship, said he was pleased at the Brown administration’s decision. “I think it is fantastic. It is an absolutely positive step. I’m glad we are back in contact and talking and working on a resolution.”
The campus religious group, which has about 100 members, is affiliated with Trinity Presbyterian Church, an evangelical congregation in Providence.
Restoration of the fellowship’s status as a campus group means that its members can hold meetings on campus, advertise meetings and use campus space for speakers.
While Wingfield said he was pleased with the university’s new tack, he said he is also disappointed because he believes the university wasn’t specific about why the group was suspended in the first place.
“We still haven’t been told why we were suspended,” said Wingfield.
Leaders of the group say they were given different reasons for the action. At first they were told that Trinity Presbyterian, the local sponsor, had withdrawn support, which it had not, according to the Rev. David Sherwood, Trinity pastor.
Then they were told that it was because the group’s former leader had been late in submitting the paperwork required to be established as a campus organization. The third reason given, according to fellowship leaders, was the most puzzling, they said. The Rev. Allen Callahan, Protestant chaplain, asserted they were “possessed of a leadership culture of contempt and dishonesty that has rendered all collegial relations with my office impossible.”
The Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights took up the fellowship’s cause, publicizing it on its Web site and attracting attention from national media outlets.
The Rev. Ms. Cooper Nelson has laid out four steps that the fellowship must take to be reinstated, including filing forms on time and communicating with “full transparency” to the Rev. Mr. Callahan.
Wingfield said the standards set by the Rev. Ms. Cooper Nelson are not onerous and are pretty much what is expected of other campus organizations which seek university sanction and use of university facilities. “All we want to do is be on campus,” said Wingfield, who said the fellowship is looking forward to reinstatement, “as soon as we can get this resolved.”
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