The historic Christian-based College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo., remains embroiled in a legal battle with a Biden administration bent on erasing various gender needs while enforcing shared housing between the school's 1,500 male and female students.
Founded in 1906, the private liberal arts college (also known as Hard Work University) enables students to attend by contributing work on behalf of the college in lieu of tuition. It is among other such schools across America facing similar dictates from the current Democrat administration.
The case remains before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, where justices must decide whether the College of the Ozarks and others that promote Christian standards as a fundamental mission will open the door to young men and women (at the height of hormonal development) to share dorm rooms, showers and locker rooms, which violates long-standing faith-based prohibitions, as well as cultural traditions (and common sense).
The arguments behind this issue have been compared to a national spiritual, political and moral crossroads.
"Will our country allow the whims of elite opinion to impose a novel redefinition of humanity on ordinary citizens? Or will we stand up for the fundamentals of freedom that were endowed by our Creator and guaranteed by the Constitution?" wrote College of the Ozarks president Jerry C. Davis, soon to be chancellor, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last November, reprinted in the school's winter 2022 Ozark Visitor.
The op-ed talked about the Biden administration issuing a memo earlier in 2021 referring to the Fair Housing Act which would "eradicate housing discrimination" (as if men and women sharing rooms and showers somehow defeats "discrimination").
Sounds like a wholly lame excuse to needlessly intrude into a private Christian college's operation, a successful school, by the way, that has functioned effectively for 115 years without contrived bureaucratic dictates that college-aged men and women must shower and room together.
What could possibly go awry with that foolish idea?
"Until now no one has forced private colleges to reject the wisdom of having separate dorms for men and women, half of whom are teenagers," Davis wrote. "Nor has the government compelled colleges to deny the basic biological reality that there are two sexes."
He said the College of the Ozarks' purpose is to provide exceptional Christian education for students who can't afford to attend college elsewhere. "Our religious beliefs define who we are. Our students know these beliefs, most share them, and all commit to respect them when they join our community."
Davis further explained that while college doesn't actively enforce its principles, it does establish expectations for students and everyone employed at the school.
"The Biden administration's agenda presents a two-pronged threat to the First Amendment. First, it squelches our right to speak the truth that men and women are different, and that we respect their dignity and privacy by providing excellent housing to both in separate dorms," Davis wrote.
"Second, it suppresses our religious right to provide affordable education to young people in an environment that lives by the truth of Genesis 1:27: "Male and female He created them."
Davis went on to ask the Biden administration whether the safety, comfort and privacy of women should be sacrificed so men could live in women's dorms. "Does radical gender ideology, which defies biological science and common sense, trump the religious beliefs of College of the Ozarks that are guaranteed protection by the Constitution?"
The administration's actions and directives reportedly apply to every college nationwide, whether they receive federal funds or not, that accepts students from the general public, Davis wrote, adding that the Biden administration took its action without any public notice, which meant no opportunity for comments or objections.
"So in April we asked the federal courts for protection. A judge denied our request for help in May, telling us that before we can sue we must suffer years of agency complaints and intrusive investigations. As the legal saying goes, the process is part of the punishment. We appealed. ..."
"In my 44 years as a college president, I have learned that sometimes we must adapt to changes and sometimes we must stand firm. This is a time to stand firm. The U.S. is at a political and spiritual crossroads."
Davis compared the Biden agenda in this instance with a college's dean of students choosing to arbitrarily revoke school policies designed to maintain its mission (that were established and governed by the board of trustees) without input, notice or authority.
College of the Ozarks is represented by multiple groups including America First Legal, Davis said, who have filed briefs contending "this case is about the administrative state run amok--with religious liberty left in the rubble."
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].