28 U.S. Code § 2412 - Costs and fees | US Law | LII / Legal Information InstituteFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Equal Access Act is a
passed in 1984 to compel federally funded
to provide equal access to extracurricular student clubs. Lobbied for by Christian groups who wanted to ensure students the right to conduct Bible study programs during lunch and after school, it is also essential in litigation regarding the right
and to form groups focused on any religion or on .
The Act provides that if a school receives federal aid and has a "limited open forum," or at least one student-led non-curriculum club that meets outside of class time, it must allow additional such clubs to be organized, and must give them equal access to meeting spaces and school publications. Exceptions can be made for groups that "materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities within the school," and a school can technically "opt out" of the act by prohibiting all non-curriculum clubs.
It was ruled
in 1990 in the case , and the school was ordered to allow a student
group to meet.
At the college level, controversy arose over whether a university should pay for a publication by a religious student organization.
The court ruled in
that if the university pays for other student organization publications, it must also pay for religious organization publications.
The Equal Access Act has also been used to fight opposition to
in high schools across the nation. Administration in high schools who have opposed the formation of gay-straight alliances, and formally denied their organizers privileges and the right to assemble, found themselves being sued and caught in legal disputes. The State Supreme Courts have always ruled in favor of the gay-straight alliance, stating that the particular school must either allow the gay-straight alliance, or ban all non-curriculum groups from assembling on school property.
The Act requires that if a school permits any religious student group, then it must allow groups focused on any religion or on .
This has been applied to stop schools from blocking Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, and other religious groups as well as Christian ones.
and other secular groups have invoked the Act to stop public high schools from blocking students organizing secular student groups.
Host school is a secondary school and receives federal financial assistance
Already have a limited open forum, which means that at least one student-led, non-curriculum club that meets outside of class time
Attendance is voluntary
Group is student-initiated
Group must guarantee aid to members who cannot afford to attend all related events and/or meetings
Group is not disruptive
Persons of the community that are not part of the school
may not "direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend meetings"
All groups and/or clubs have equal access to meeting spaces, the PA system, school periodicals, bulletin board space, etc.
School officials preserve and have the right to monitor meetings
Officials preserve and have the right to require all clubs and/or groups to follow a set of guidelines
Schools may limit meeting times and locations, only if the rules apply to all groups and/or clubs
Schools may prohibit people from the community from attending student groups and/or clubs.
Stewart, Chuck (2001). Homosexuality and the Law: A Dictionary. . pp. 14–15.  .
Kern, A M. David Alexander (2012). American Public School Law, 8th edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. p. 258.  .
Macgillivray, Ian (2007). . New York, NY: Harrington Park Press. pp. 37–53.  . Archived from相关词典网站：}