Aaron Bandler, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, has an in-depth look at how Christian students are pushing back on campus policies that seemingly target their groups under the guise of “anti-discrimination”.

Plans by the California State University system’s leaders to reject Christian campus organizations because they won’t let non-Christians lead their groups is causing concern among some students who say the policy is unfair, illogical and overbearing.

“How can we effectively teach people?” Ashley Pierce, a Bible study leader in the Chinese Christian Fellowship at California Polytechnic State University, said in an interview with The College Fix. “It’s a stupid rule; it has no place in Christian groups.”

Pierce said the policy would effectively force her campus group to accept non-Christians in leadership positions that require faith-based elements such as praying and evangelism.

“Their job is to lead prayers, lead Bible studies, in some cases preaching,” Pierce said. “If you’re an atheist or agnostic, you’re going to have struggles, but you won’t have Christian struggles. You can’t give real-life examples and pour into it as someone living the faith would.”

But that’s exactly what Christian groups would be forced to do if they want to enjoy campus support in the future. Either that, or give up student government funding and hosting campus events without paying rent.

CSU Chancellor Timothy White is preparing to withdraw official recognition this summer from evangelical groups that “are refusing to pledge not to discriminate on the basis of religion in the selection of their leaders,” The New York Times reports.

CSU is the largest university system in the country, with nearly 447,000 students on 23 campuses.

Other universities have made such moves, but nothing as massive as the CSU system. Other campuses, such as Vanderbilt University, Tufts University and Bowdoin College, have approved similar policies.

Losing official recognition can carry a steep price.

At Chico State University, part of the CSU system, the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship campus chapter will no longer be eligible for revenue sharing – $300 to $600 a year of the club’s budget, team leader Liz Thrasher Wheatley told the Chico Enterprise-Record.

…The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education says the problem dates back to a 2010 Supreme Court decision, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, which found that “public universities do not violate the First Amendment by requiring all recognized groups on campus to accept all students as members, regardless of whether or not they agree with (or are even hostile to) the group’s beliefs.”

Since then, so-called “all-comers” policies have wreaked havoc for religious groups. The friction largely stems from the religious groups’ views on homosexuality, and that they will not let students who do not share their religious views hold positions of leadership in the groups.