By Jim Brown and Jody Brown
August 16, 2002

(AgapePress) - A federal judge has failed to block an Islamic indoctrination program for incoming students at the University of North Carolina.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Carlton Tilley refused to grant a temporary injunction requested by the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy. The pro-family group is representing two state taxpayers and three incoming freshmen who object to the UNC summer reading program, which requires all first-year students to read and discuss a book of excerpts from the Koran -- or to put in writing their objections to reading the book. The lawsuit claimed the mandatory reading assignment was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Steve Crampton is chief counsel for the Center for Law & Policy. He is currently in Richmond, Virginia, where he is preparing to appeal to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for emergency relief from Tilley's ruling before the discussion groups begin on Monday.

Steve Crampton

"[Tilley] sanctioned, I think, an exercise by a government body -- the University of North Carolina -- that goes farther than the government has ever gone in promoting one particular religion, the religion of Islam ... and he called that constitutional," Crampton says.

Although the attorney is disappointed with the overall ruling, he says Tilley did grant some relief to UNC students who object to the reading program.

"He has determined that the requirements of the university are no longer requirements," Crampton says. "They have changed the rules for this summer reading program and now students need not even attend the discussion groups, they don't need to write essays, and they don't really need to do anything. There's no penalty."

Celia Lata, the assistant attorney general representing the university, told Tilley during the hearing that the four-year-old reading program has never been mandatory. Yet even the morning after Tilley's ruling, the university's website still carried the following statements regarding the reading program:

"The Carolina Summer Reading Program is designed to introduce you to the intellectual life of Carolina. Required of all new undergraduate students (first year and transfer), it involves reading an assigned book over the summer, writing a one-page response to a particular subject, participating in a two-hour discussion, and sharing your written response with others." [emphasis appears on website]

An 'opt out' policy appeared on the website after public criticism to the requirement began to grow. That option still required students to take part, but forced them to state in writing their objection to being forced to read the book. With Tilley's ruling, students who would prefer not to read the book no longer have to explain why in writing.

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