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Christian Union at Exeter wins vote on members’ faith test

by
13 December 2007

by Pat Ashworth

THE Evangelical Christian Union (ECU) at Exeter University has won the right to restrict its membership to those able to sign a statement of faith, and to restrict its leadership to those willing to sign up to a doctrinal statement.

There has been a long-running disagreement between the group and the Student Guild, which required it, after a referendum last year, to change its name from the Christian Union to the Evangelical Christian Union. The ECU was suspended from the official list of student societies and its bank account was frozen, because it did not comply with the Guild’s new equal-opportunities policies.

It threatened legal proceedings against the Guild and University unless they reinstated the privileges, and argued that they had breached the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Education (No. 2) Act 1986.

Ben Martin, a member who has since graduated, filed papers in the High Court requesting a full judicial review of the Guild’s actions; but the ECU was first required by the University to go through an internal adjudication process.

The adjudication by Mark Shaw QC described as “misplaced” the ECU’s criticism of the University for failing to supervise, condemn, and restrain the Student Guild’s activities. It said that the Guild had not violated the human rights of the ECU or of Ben Martin (News, 3 August).

At a meeting between the ECU and the Guild last week, the ECU refused to accept a proposed motion by the Guild that there should be open access, including voting rights, for all members, but that the leadership could be restricted by a doctrinal basis.

The ECU called an emergency general meeting of the Guild to allow it to restrict membership fully through a statement of faith and an 11-point leaders’ doctrinal basis.

The meeting voted for that by 122 to 47 on Tuesday, and agreed that the relationship between the ECU and the Student Guild should reflect proposed new guidelines on religious societies as agreed between the National Union of Students and the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), to which the ECU is affiliated.

The president of the Evangelical Christian Union, Ross Tranter, expressed the hope that the Guild would now ratify the vote.

“We are simply looking forward to getting on with our academic studies and to developing the work of the CU as a well-established, successful and fully recognised society on campus. We hope the Guild will recognise this important vote and not force us to proceed with legal action,” he said.

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