The University provided the UA Young Americans for Freedom chapter an exception to a required non-discrimination clause for student organization constitutions that prohibits barring membership based on characteristics of personal identity.
The exception for the conservative political organization allows it to use a modified version of the required non-discrimination statement excluding wording prohibiting discrimination based on a student’s “gender identity, gender expression, [or] sexual identity.”
“We were not about to be bullied by this new gender ideology cult infecting the University of Alabama administration,” Trenton Buffenbarger, president of UA YAF, said in an article on the YAF website.
After UA YAF applied to renew its organization with The Source, an annual requirement for student organizations, the Source rejected the application. A University employee stated in an email reply to UA YAF that it was required to include a nondiscrimination clause in its constitution with the “EXACT” wording, noting that UA YAF would remain in “frozen status” until it complied.
The chapter pushed back against this required clause, as it included references to gender identity and sexual identity.
Buffenbarger said in an interview with The Crimson White that he saw this as an attack on “basic free-thinking students,” adding he believes that welcoming in someone who not only fundamentally disagrees with the organization on “ideology,” but encourages the opposing ideology, is wrong.
“UA tried to force us to not only comply, but to explicitly put something we disagree with in writing in our constitution,” Buffenbarger said. “It is a violation of the First Amendment.”
He said that the UA YAF chapter worked with the national chapter to draft a complaint to University President Stuart Bell. Buffenbarger also said that the state’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, requested to be added to the email chain for “extra pressure.”
Marshall’s office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.
A University employee reached out to YAF a day after the complaint was sent, providing the student organization with an exemption.
The statement YAF will now use is as follows:
“Membership in registered student organizations shall be open to all students of The University of Alabama, without regard to race, religion, sex, ability status, national origin, color, age, or veteran status except in cases designated fraternal organizations exempted by federal law from Title IX regulations concerning discrimination on the basis of sex.”
The terms “gender identity,” “gender expression” and “sexual identity” are omitted in the nondiscrimination clause YAF will now use.
“Membership in registered student organizations is open to all UA students except in cases of designated fraternal organizations exempted by federal law from Title IX regulations concerning discrimination on the basis of sex,” Alex House, associate director of media relations for the University, said in response to questions for this story.
The University has required a nondiscrimination statement mentioning “gender identity,” “gender expression” and “sexual identity” in student organization constitutions since as early as 2016. A Constitution Writing Guide dated March 2016 that is still linked as a resource on a Student Involvement webpage includes the same required statement.
Buffenbarger applied for renewal this year with a version of YAF’s constitution that included no non-discrimination statement whatsoever. He said that to his knowledge, previous presidents had used the same version of the constitution he used, which was taken from the national YAF website.
Previous constitutions approved under the renewal process had the full nondiscrimination statement “word for word” in a different, red font, he said, which he and previous chairmans were previously unaware of before they reviewed past approved constitutions on Sunday.
Buffenbarger said the statement’s inclusion in previous constitutions appeared to be a modification not made by previous chairs of UA YAF and he was unsure of its origins, and he declined to say whether he believed the University had made these modifications.
To his knowledge, this is the first time the organization’s annual renewal application was rejected for not including a nondiscrimination statement.
Braden Vick, president of UA College Democrats, said he wasn’t shocked by UA YAF’s actions.
“I can’t say I’m too surprised that they would pull a bigoted move,” he said. “I am surprised a little bit that the University would acquiesce to such a move, considering I’m pretty sure this violates the Capstone Creed.”
The Capstone Creed includes agreements to “act with fairness, integrity and respect” and “promote equity and inclusion.”
Vick said he believes the University “values sort of keeping things on the down low” in an effort to keep “state legislative funding over standing up for the values that it pretends to represent.”
Buffenbarger said the chapter will not seek to discriminate against gay or trans students or bar them from attending events, as all students can attend the organization’s events, and there is no formal membership process for joining YAF. He said he views gender identity and sexual identity as being under the same “umbrella” of gender ideology, although his chapter is not against homosexuality.
“We do not bar anyone from attending. That does not mean that you will be welcomed with open arms, or that we will believe everything you say, or we will conform to your beliefs,” Buffenbarger said.
UA YAF says it plans to challenge the policy until the school repeals it.
“It is a win for more than YAF, by proving that a simple email can break down the rule proves not even the administration believes the rule should be in place to begin with and it shouldn’t,” Buffenbarger said. “Any organization that disagrees with this rule should push back and make their voice heard until the rule is abolished altogether.”
