Georgetown bars ministries from campus

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Georgetown University has banned outside Protestant ministries from holding on-campus events and using the school's name, prompting group leaders to question whether the prestigious Catholic school is restricting religious choice.

"All we're wanting is diversity," said Kevin Offner, a staff leader for InterVarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship. "We're simply saying, 'Can't we worship and conduct our meetings in a way appropriate to our tradition?' And it feels like [Georgetown is] saying 'no.' "

In a letter last week to leaders of the campus's Affiliated Ministries, the Rev. Constance C. Wheeler, a Georgetown Protestant chaplain, said that "as a result of our new direction for the upcoming academic year, we have decided not to renew any covenant agreements" with the groups.

The decision -- which affects a few hundred students belonging to six Christian groups -- forbids the ministries from having any "activity or presence" on campus, including worship services, retreats or helping students move into their dorms.

The groups also are prohibited from using the Georgetown name in publicity.

Group leaders say university staff read the letter at an Aug. 17 meeting that began and closed with prayer. During the meeting, the leaders said, school officials stated they made the decision because the Office of Campus Ministry could not control what type of message the groups teach.

Georgetown is "caught between being a private institution with a particular identity, but also wanting to be a real university," said Shawn Galyen, a leader of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, which ministered to more than 100 Georgetown students. "They essentially have weirdly split the difference by choosing to disallow us."

Georgetown was founded in 1789 as a private Jesuit Catholic university and had about 4,200 students last fall.

The school welcomes people of all faiths, and employs chaplains that minister to and hold worship services for Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox Christian and Protestant students, according to its Web site.

"Students are permitted to join any group they wish," Georgetown spokesman Erik Smulson said. "This decision affects [only] campus ministries."