Christian students at Exeter University are to consult legal experts following the decision by the Student Guild at Exeter University not to reinstate the Christian Union as a student union society with full rights and privileges.
On November 14, the ECU delivered a Letter before Action on the Registrar of the University, and on the Student Guild. In it, the students advised that unless the Exeter Evangelical Christian Union was fully re-instated as a student society by the Guild with full rights, and was allowed to call itself the Christian Union within 14 days of the letter, they would take further legal advice and legal action would follow under the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Education (No.2) Act 1986.
The saga started in May this year when one student felt the CU was too exclusive for him, ECU has told Christian Today. Student Guild officers allowed him to propose a name change to the 'Evangelical Christian Union' at an up-coming Extra-ordinary Annual General Meeting of the Guild.
No official notice of the motion had been served on the CU, but his motion was passed by 54 to 50, explains the ECU. The Guild subsequently ratified the vote and forced the CU to call themselves the 'Evangelical Christian Union' from that moment on. The CU believes that whilst the word 'evangelical' has a clear historic meaning, its contemporary usage is ill-defined and can be very misleading.We are deeply disappointed that the Guild has not seen that common sense should prevail in this case, and that the ECU is being discriminated against.
Ben Martin, Committee Member Exeter Christian Union
The 'ECU' leaders appealed, and proposed a name reversal motion at the Guild's normal Annual General Meeting held last term. That motion was successful, but the Guild Officers refused to ratify it, and instead, called for a vote of the entire 13,000-strong student population - despite the fact that just one student had made the initial complaint.
Hustings and voting took place 9-13 October with 55 per cent of voting students agreeing the CU should be called the Evangelical Christian Union. However, Guild rules state that 10 per cent of students must vote to make it valid, but only five per cent took part. So the Students' Guild had to ratify the motion which they did soon after, Christian Today has been told.
Whilst the referendum was underway, the Guild allowed a proposed motion to suspend the ECU with immediate effect, and for all the 'Guild privileges' to be denied. It appears that unless the CU disassociate themselves from the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowships (UCCF), the national body to which they are a part, and stop the practice of asking committee members and speakers to sign the Doctrinal Basis, they could be permanently banned from the Guild.
Christian Today has also been told, "They will also continue to have their student union bank account frozen, and will be charged the going rate for rooms or facilities within the Guild's jurisdiction for events or advertising."
Ben Martin, a committee member of the ECU said last week: "We are deeply disappointed that the Guild has not seen that common sense should prevail in this case, and that the ECU is being discriminated against.
"We will now consult our team of legal advisors over the response both by the University, and by the Guild and will make a further statement," a press release has told.
If legal action follows, it is thought it will be the first time in the UK that Christian students will have taken legal action against a Student Guild and University in support of their freedoms of speech, belief and association.
