April 17, 2012 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: PIETER VALK, (423) 914-6258
Pieter.L.Valk@Vanderbilt.edu

Nashville community gathers on Vanderbilt’s campus to
pray for Vanderbilt Board of Trust

NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt University students and members of the Nashville community, including singer Ricky Skaggs, will gather on Vanderbilt’s campus to worship and pray that God would bless administrators and members of the Board of Trust with wisdom. The attendees will also pray that God would prepare the hearts of those in the faith community to respond in a way that reflects Christ, no matter the outcome of decisions made in this week’s Vanderbilt Board of Trust meeting, April 19-20.
 
The artists that lead the popular, local worship event Sanctuary will lead worship for the event with the help of Skaggs. Skaggs and student leaders will be available for media interviews.
 
WHAT: Nashville Prays for Vanderbilt Board of Trust
 
WHO: Vanderbilt students and members of the Nashville community, including Ricky Skaggs
 
WHEN: Wednesday, April 18
 9:30 p.m. CDT
 
WHERE: Student Life Center Courtyard
 Vanderbilt University
 (Parking in 25th Avenue Garage at Vanderbilt)
 
Background on Vanderbilt Non-Discrimination Policy: 

In December 2010, Vanderbilt University removed a section of its student handbook that protected the rights of student religious organizations, including their right to establish belief-based qualifications for leadership. The Vanderbilt Board of Trust will have a final opportunity April 20 to overturn Vanderbilt’s new “all-comers” policy, as the administration has called it.
 
The policy requires that religious student organizations at Vanderbilt allow any student to be a leader of the organization regardless of the individual’s values, beliefs, or religious convictions. Eleven religious organizations have submitted registrations to be student organizations at Vanderbilt for the upcoming school year but anticipate being denied registration and forced off campus due to the new “all-comers” policy.
 
The undergraduate and graduate Catholic groups at Vanderbilt decided not to re-register as official student organizations due to this policy but will remain on campus asunregistered organizations. If the Board of Trust approves the administration’s new “all-comers” policy, these 13 groups, constituting a majority of Christian groups at Vanderbilt, will be forced off campus.