Williams College: Suppression of Freedom of Association by Nondiscrimination Policy

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Williams College: Suppression of Freedom of Association by Nondiscrimination Policy

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Williams College

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Case Overview

FIRE Victory closed

FIRE successfully defeated a Williams College proposal that denied students' right to free association by requiring clubs adopt non-discrimination language. Williams College only mentioned the category of sexual orientation—not, for example, the category of religion or race—and justified this imposition by asserting, without any specific citations, that Williams' actions in this regard were "completely dictated by the Federal Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights guidelines for non-discrimination."

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