Christian-based organization Campus Bible Fellowship at SUNY Broome is suing the university for allegedly violating First and 14th Amendment rights. The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 3.
The CBF requires club leaders to be Christians, which SUNY Broome claimed was discriminatory to the student body. The organization chapter’s president and SUNY Broome student, Jacob Seachrist, claimed the community college stopped recognizing it as an active club because of this.
While inactive, the club cannot use campus financial resources or officially reserve campus spaces.
CBF is being represented pro bono by Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization dedicated to protecting religious freedom and Christian values. ADF states on its website that it is “the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God’s design for marriage and family.”
The firm helped file a 2019 lawsuit against former Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger and other campus leadership following an altercation between BU College Republicans members and counter-protestors. The disagreement came after the College Republicans, in coalition with the Young America’s Foundation, invited Art Laffer, a member of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s economic policy advisory board, to speak on campus.
ADF also states that the Young America’s Foundation is “a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on conservative ideas including individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values.”
During Laffer’s lecture, counter-protesters entered the room and heckled Laffer until he was escorted out at the direction of the campus police.
The lawsuit argued that the University violated students’ First and 14th Amendment rights when security did not remove disruptive protesters from Laffer’s lecture. As of August 2026, the case is still open, with YAF appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit after district court dismissal.
ADF has also been involved in 20 victories at the U.S. Supreme Court level, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal protections for abortions.
Mercer Martin, legal counsel with ADF, told the Binghamton Homepage that BCF should be held to the same standard as other clubs and be permitted to be selective with club direction.
“Just like you would allow a sorority, for example, to have women in leadership or the Democratic club to have Democrats as leaders, the same should be treated for religious groups,” Martin said. “Christian groups should be able to allow to select their leaders based on their faith.”
CBF is a national campus ministry with chapters throughout the country, including at SUNY Broome and Binghamton University. The organization’s purpose is to “provide sound, Biblical fellowship for Christians, to preserve a Christian witness, and to reach out to the unsaved and bring them to faith in Christ,” according to their website.
ADF claimed that student leaders of the club are expected to guide and teach the Christian gospel and therefore must be Christian. ADF wrote in the complaint that “doing otherwise would dilute the ministry’s Christian character and stifle its mission of spreading the Christian faith.”
CBF asserted that their leadership mandate is “an expression of faith at the core of the First Amendment’s protections,” specifically clauses pertaining to freedom of religion, speech and assembly.
“The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations are free to select faithful leaders,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer. “But SUNY Broome’s policy undermines that right by seeking to control a fundamental aspect of CBF’s governance, doctrine, and faith. Forcing CBF to accept leaders who don’t share their religious beliefs fundamentally alters their religious expression. The First Amendment prohibits this type of governmental interference.”
SUNY Broome denied Pipe Dream’s request for comment.