Equal Access Act - Definition and Overview

The Equal Access Act was passed by the US Congress in 1984 to combat discrimination against student religious groups in public high schools.

If a school receives federal aid and has a "limited open forum," or at least one student-led noncurriculum 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 noncurriculum clubs.

It was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court in 1990 in the case Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, and the school was ordered to allow a student Christian group to meet.

More recently, and some would say ironically, the Equal Access Act has been used to fight opposition to Gay-Straight Alliances in high schools across the nation.

External links

• Text of the Equal Access Act (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode20/usc_sec_20_00004071----000-.html)