About three weeks ago, AU’s Board of Trustees said they would not support a charter for student lead LGBT group, Eagles for PRIDE.

Typically student organizations are submitted to the same chartering process. According to the Student Organization Manual on Ashland’s website, an application for a provisional charter must be submitted to the Office of Student Life by October or November. If the Activities Chartering and Budget Committee (ABCC), a subcommittee of student senate, approves the group, the whole student senate votes on it. With a majority vote from student senate, the organization is given a year’s long provisional charter in which it can establish itself on campus.

After the year is up, the group can apply to be fully chartered by submitting a constitution and a roster to the ABCC and then to student senate for approval.

Two different groups, Kaleidoscope and Eagles for PRIDE (Promoting Respect for Individual Dignity Everywhere), were submitted to the Office of Student Life. Both groups identified as LGBT focused and so it was suggested that they work together. Once merged, the group, keeping the name Eagles for PRIDE, was recommended by the ABCC and unanimously passed by student senate for a provisional charter. Normally this means that an organization would be good to go until it comes time to apply for a full charter, but the group was told that it was under review by the student life committee of the board of trustees. When the board met, Eagles for PRIDE was deemed to be outside of their purview. The topic was tabled and sent to the office of the president for final deliberation.

That was nearly two months ago. Three weeks ago, the student advisers behind Eagles for PRIDE, Sean Honaker and Joe Faber, along with faculty advisers, Craig Hovey and James Olive, had a meeting with President Carlos Campo and were given some bad news.

“Campo said that there clearly is a need on campus [for an LGBT group] because of the two different charter applications in the same year and also because of the stories [Joe and I] told about students wanting a group like Eagles for PRIDE,” said Honaker. “He explained that it is an issue that administrators are concerned about because the university wants to support students of all walks of life.”

Unfortunately, Campo also told the group that the executive committee of the board of trustees met and decided that Eagles for PRIDE went against the doctrine of the Brethren church.

“[The board] said [it] could not publically support the organization or allow the university to provide funding,” said Honaker.

According to the Ashland University website, AU was founded by the Brethren Church in 1878, but was, from the start, intended to be non-sectarian.  Instead the university would support the Christian faith and morals but still be committed to free inquiry.

Campo would not comment directly on how the executive council of the board of trustees was brought back into the conversation after the student life committee tabled deliberations.

In an email, he explained that no official action was taken on the part of the board other than to say that, because of the Brethren traditions of the school the university would not approve a full charter for Eagles for PRIDE on the grounds that they would not officially or publically endorse the group or provide funding. He felt it would be unfair to allow the group to continue under a provisional charter only to be turned down when applying for a full charter.

Though the university does not require students to practice any sort of religion or lifestyle, the yearly $220 activity fee, paid by every full-time undergraduate student, seems to be, in this case, subject to the beliefs of the Brethren church rather than to the desires of the student body as represented in the unanimous student senate vote.

According to the student organization manual, the activity fee is “allocated to fully chartered Ashland University organizations, residence hall programming and other university traditions such as the annual Homecoming festivities,” meaning that the money used for an organization like Eagles for PRIDE ultimately comes from students.

In the student organization manual, the university reserves its administrative right to overturn any decisions made by student senate and the ABCC and to “deny or rescind the recognition and or charter of student organizations for cause as deemed necessary and appropriate.”

The cause, in this case, was that the Brethren church doctrine, which according to university chaplain Reverend Jason Barnhart, was last revised in the 1985. It affirms marriage between a man and a woman only. According to Campo, the board of trustees must have a 51 percent majority of members aligned with the Brethren Church. Barnhart explained that in Brethren Church theology, the general conference has to approve a statement on a stance or issue before it can be added to or changed in the doctrine.

“The sad thing is, the last time this was discussed was in the 1980s,” said Barnhart. “I think [the board] felt they were being true to the Brethren church by not deviating from the 1980s statement. I also think there could be some conversation in the future.”

The Brethren Church’s stance on homosexuality can be found on their website or by visiting their national office which is located in Ashland right across the street from the university.

Though the student organization manual expressly states “Ashland University and Student Senate recognition does not mean endorsement of the purposes and or activities of any organization by the faculty, administration, or students,” the board declared it would not grant Eagles for PRIDE a full charter because it would not publically endorse or recognize the group.

In an email, Campo said the university, with encouragement from the board, is working with all those involved in Eagles for PRIDE to find solutions that honor the traditions of AU while still supporting the students. He was unclear about what exactly this would mean for Eagles for PRIDE but according to Honaker, in their meeting, Campo suggested a few different ways Eagles for PRIDE could operate outside of the university. At this point no final decision has been made.

“I hope that Ashland University can be a place, if we’re indeed going to say that we value accent on the individual, that we can respect and honor the dignity of every individual we have on this campus,” said Barnhart. “And things like this kind of cloud that for some.”