Westside Community Bd. of Ed. v. Mergens

In Westside Community Bd. of Ed. v. Mergens (1990) 496 U.S. 226, a Bible study group whose application for club recognition had been denied by the students' high school sought to invoke the protections of the FEAA by establishing the school was a limited open forum because it recognized and granted campus access to numerous noncurriculum-related clubs, including the service clubs Interact (a junior version of the Rotary Club) and Zonta (the female equivalent of Interact). (Id. at pp. 243-244.) Attempting to glean legislative intent from the language and logic of the Act, the court noted that "the Act's definition of the sort of 'meeting[s]' that must be accommodated under the statute, 4071(a), sheds some light on this question. 'The term "meeting" includes those activities of students groups which are . . . not directly related to the school curriculum.' 4072(3) . . . . Congress' use of the phrase 'directly related' implies that student groups directly related to the subject matter of courses offered by the school do not fall within the 'noncurriculum related' category and would therefore be considered 'curriculum related.' " (Id. at pp. 237-238.) The court continued, "The logic of the Act also supports the view . . . that a curriculum-related student group is one that has more than just a tangential or attenuated relationship to courses offered by the school." (Westside Community Bd. of Ed. v. Mergens, supra, 496 U.S. at p. 238.) After noting the Act was passed in response to several then recent cases denying religious groups access to high school facilities on establishment clause grounds, the court added the following: "We think that the term 'noncurriculum related student group' is best interpreted broadly to mean any student group that does not directly relate to the body of courses offered by the school. In our view, a student group directly relates to a school's curriculum: [1] if the subject matter of the group is actually taught, or will soon be taught, in a regularly offered course; [2] if the subject matter of the group concerns the body of courses as a whole; [3] if participation in the group is required for a particular course; or [4] if participation in the group results in academic credit. We think this limited definition of groups that directly relate to the curriculum is a commonsense interpretation of the Act that is consistent with Congress' intent to provide a low threshold for triggering the Act's requirements." (Id. at pp. 239-240.)