Williams College: Suppression of Freedom of Association by Nondiscrimination Policy

FIRE successfully defeated a Williams College proposal that denied students' right to free association by requiring clubs adopt non-discrimination language. Williams College only mentioned the category of sexual orientation—not, for example, the category of religion or race—and justified this imposition by asserting, without any specific citations, that Williams' actions in this regard were "completely dictated by the Federal Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights guidelines for non-discrimination."  FIRE corrected Williams College on the law by informing Williams that to insist that a religious student organization not discriminate on issues of faith—and on the voluntary association that flows from the practice of faith—not only deprives the individual members of that organization of their rights under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, but also imposes upon them an ideology alien to their conscience in violation of the free speech clause of the first amendment. Upon also reminding Williams that it had a contractual obligation to its students by offering them freedom of association in its guidebooks, the Dean of Students informed FIRE that the requirement was no longer in existence.

    Case Materials

  • "FIRE's Letter to Williams' College," December 15, 2000
  • "Willams College," December 1, 2000: Williams College informed its student groups that the college's statement of non-discrimination requirements applied to the activities of voluntary student associations. Such a move would have denied the right to freedom of association promised by the college in its publications. In May, the college sent a memo instructing student groups to adopt "non-discrimination" language in their constitutions or lose their ability to exist as campus groups. Importantly, Williams only mentioned the category of sexual orientation—not, for example, the category of religion or race—and justified this imposition by asserting, without any specific citations, that Williams's actions in this regard were "completely dictated by the Federal Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights guidelines for non-discrimination."