A federal judge denied a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction last week, requiring College of the Ozarks to place biological males in female dormitories and assign them as roommates.
“That conflicts with the university's deeply held religious beliefs,” attorney Ryan Bangert said about U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark's decision to deny the school a TRO.
Bangert is an attorney and vice president of legal strategy with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing College of the Ozarks, a private institution.
Fudge
| Hud.gov
The College sued President Biden, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge, and HUD’s Acting Assistant Secretary of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity Jeanine Worden in the Missouri Western District Court on April 15 over a Fair Housing Act directive.
“President Biden and his administration are punishing schools like College of the Ozarks because their beliefs about marriage and biological sex contradict this new policy and there's nothing that provides women with an opt-out or the ability to raise an objection,” Bangert told the St. Louis Record.
The directive prevents universities from segregating students based on sexual orientation or gender identity when they occupy housing and in policies that govern those dwellings.
“It is simply emblematic of the fact that the Biden administration is not respecting the religious freedoms of institutions and organizations like College of the Ozarks and that they would prefer to advance an extreme and radical agenda rather than protect religious freedom,” Bangert said. “That's very, very unfortunate and in our view unconstitutional.”
Judge Ketchmark, appointed by former President Barack Obama, made the decision on May 20 but has not yet issued an opinion.
“The court did not address the merits of the lawsuit,” Bangert said. “Instead, the court held that it didn't have power right now to hear the case."
Approximately 45% of the 1,546 undergraduates who attend the College are male and 55% are female, according to media reports.
“If the government is allowed to continue to force this policy, it could have very serious impacts, not just for College of the Ozarks, but for every Christian school and every school that houses male and female students in separate dormitories for reasons of faith or even safety,” Bangert added.
The College filed a motion for injunctive relief pending appeal on Tuesday, May 25 arguing that it is likely to succeed on the merits as the litigation proceeds.
“The College is suffering an imminent injury,” wrote Julie Marie Blake in the plaintiff’s Suggestions in Support of Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal. “Under the directive, the College must choose between three untenable injuries: risk crippling liabilities and penalties at the hands of the federal enforcement apparatus and its state partners; abandon its religious beliefs and its current housing practices, or cease providing student housing.”