Two Christian ministries are suing after a public university stripped them of their official status and granted control of their prayers, meetings, funding, and other activities to a single religious official — while exempting all other student groups.
Did you know there is a Virginia university that won’t let Christian students get together and pray, host a women’s Bible study, or hang out without the presence or permission of the school’s official, state-employed campus minister?
It sounds like the plot of a bad horror show, but these are the allegations made in a lawsuit filed by Women of Victory and Bethel Campus Fellowship against Virginia State University, claiming that it is blatantly discriminating against Christian organizations.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the plaintiffs, says that the conflict first arose on August 6, 2026, when the historically black university stripped “registered student organization” (RSO) status from all Christian student organizations on campus.
RSOs receive numerous benefits from the university, including assistance with event planning and strategic planning, access to school facilities, publicity opportunities, online space reservations, and leadership trainings. RSOs also get to participate in the school’s annual Homecoming festival known as Org Bazaar, during which organizations can showcase their activities and recruit new members.
Christian organizations no longer have access to any of these. Instead, VSU has placed all Christian clubs and organizations, including the Women of Victory and the Bethel Campus Fellowship, under the direction of its Campus Ministries, which is headed by United Methodist Reverend Thomas Wynn.
The effects are nothing short of shocking.
All independent Christian organizations are now required to sever connections with their national parent organizations and submit wholly to the authority of Reverend Wynn. Wynn now controls the clubs’ ability to meet and use school facilities, who can speak at meetings, and even when they can hold private prayer and social gatherings.
At a meeting with Christian organizations on August 19, Wynn said that a student , “called me a day ago [to ask], ‘Can we have prayer?’…In the past, [clubs could] just get the homies together, call everybody…and pray. That is not what the university want[s].”
He went on to say that Christian ministries can no longer gather and pray without requesting permission and getting his approval. An advisor from the school must also be present.
In addition, Wynn has been accused of chastising the leaders of Women of Victory for holding an informal pajama party over Labor Day weekend without his permission. The women’s Christian group says it has also been forced to let Wynn sit in on its women’s Bible studies despite requesting a female advisor.
Christian student organizations are banned from free bus rides to off-campus worship services because, Wynn said, “The school wants to crack down on transportation to outside churches.”
The restrictions on Christian organizations go further than even their conduct or use of meeting space, however. The lawsuit accuses VSU of denying Christian organizations access to the funding that’s accessible to RSO student groups. Those funds are paid for by all VSU students, including a $91 “student union” fee and a $473 “student activity” fee.
VSU is also denying students the right to use their own money to fund the clubs. They are not allowed to raise funds through other means without Wynn’s approval, have any “unofficial bank accounts,” or spend any money without requesting approval from Wynn.
Secular groups and other religious groups are not subject to any of these requirements.
When asked why the Muslim Student Association (MSA) was awarded an exemption from the new policy during his meeting with the Christian organizations, Wynn said it was because the Muslims were “underserved.”
“[T]hey have different things because they were an underserved demographic,” Wynn stated. “[T]hey’re just different, ‘cause they’re higher up.” Wynn added that they had a connection to someone in the president’s office.
“And it’s not discrimination,” he said. “It’s actually to give them a more equal footing and a voice on campus.”
Wynn noted that the university had “backed” the MSA and that it received funding from a “different revenue stream” in the Diversity Office.
The VSU Community Faith Alliance, another non-Christian group, is also exempt from the requirements.
When asked why only Christian groups were limited, Wynn answered that it was “because you purport Jesus Christ and faith. So all faith-based come under one ministry heading.”
ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer blasted VSU’s new policy, saying that it not only hinders Christian organizations from exercising their right to free exercise of religion but forces them to underwrite the speech of organizations they do not agree with by paying mandatory fees without receiving the benefits of those funds.
“VSU is brazenly singling out Christian clubs and treating them worse than student groups of other faiths,” he said. “The Constitution prohibits such blatant discrimination. The First Amendment clearly establishes the right of all student organizations to associate around shared beliefs. The students of Women of Victory and Bethel Campus Fellowship are right to stand up to university officials and hold them accountable for violating their fundamental rights.”
It would be difficult to imagine something more unconstitutional than a publicly funded university placing a single religious official over all Christian groups and granting him carte blanche authority to restrict any and all actions of any Christian group while allowing other student groups to do whatever they want.
If you read the transcript of the meeting between Wynn and the students on August 19, you will see Wynn’s attempts to use pseudo-Christian language to tell students that they have no right to oppose these policies and that they should agree to be mistreated for the sake of unity.
He also claims that the Christian students should “celebrate” other religions while denying that the Christian ministries are being persecuted.
A government entity taking full control of one religion’s activities, denying it funding, and telling its followers that they may not gather to pray without permission is persecution.
Blood does not have to be shed for a person or religion to be persecuted, and VSU is allegedly using its power, as well as appropriating student dollars, to restrict Christian ministries for the sake of promoting other religions.
That is woefully unconstitutional, which is why a federal judge should move quickly to block this policy and give the leaders of Virginia State University a remedial lesson in the First Amendment.
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