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According to the , State Senator Ricardo Lara, sponsor of Senate Bill 1146, has reportedly agreed to strip his controversial legislation of key provisions that threatened the religious liberty of California’s religious colleges and universities.

“We are grateful to all the interfaith leaders of religious schools and organizations in California and across the country who voiced their opposition to this bill, as well as to friends of the College who petitioned their legislators and prayed for a favorable outcome,” says Dr. McLean. “We are also grateful to Senator Lara for taking seriously the concerns of his constituents, and we hope that, moving forward, he and his fellow lawmakers will continue to respect the religious liberty of private colleges and universities.”

91���� has rules of residence that accord with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, including a prohibition of dorm visitation by members of the opposite sex. If passed in its original form, however, SB 1146 would have compelled all colleges and universities — religious and secular — to provide housing to students on the basis of their gender “identity” or “expression,” regardless of biology, or else face the threat of crippling litigation. The bill also would have penalized students at 91����, or any other institution that holds to traditional religious views on marriage and sexuality, by barring them from participation in the Cal Grant program, which offers significant tuition assistance to members of low-income families. 

On Wednesday, Senator Lara and his staff met with Kristen F. Soares and Erica M. Romero, president and vice president, respectively, of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities. According to Ms. Soares and Ms. Romero, the senator gave them his assurance that he would remove the offending language from SB 1146, and said he would inform the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which was set to consider the bill on Thursday, of his amendments. This news came soon after friends of the College had begun petitioning St. Michael for his intercession.

“We are very pleased with the apparent resolution to this controversy, not only for the sake of 91���� and our students, but also because we seem to have averted a dangerous precedent that would have compromised the religious liberty of all Americans,” says Dr. McLean. “We ask now that all pray again — this time a prayer of thanksgiving!”