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 case decision applies to higher education, I still had the feeling that some professors at religiously affiliated colleges will be asking themselves: Will this affect me?

(You may remember that the Supreme Court ruling essentially allows religious schools to classify certain employees as "ministers," leaving them exempt from federal employment-discrimination laws.)

 law professor Thomas Berg, who filed an amicus brief (above) with the Supreme Court over the matter. (His

Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy

A number of his statements seemed based on how he synthesized the various opinions of the justices, so there didn't seem to be many hard-and-fast statements he could make.

(In any case, discrimination suits at religious colleges may be pretty uncommon. Berg said he couldn't think of any Minnesota examples.)

He elaborates a little in response to three main questions:

Will the ruling change many professors' status at colleges, giving them the "minister" exemption?

Note: Berg later said that's "only if that person also has important responsibilities for teaching the school's religious message."

I think the main question, then, is how those responsibilities are defined. That still seems unclear.

In future rulings, how important will the strength of a college's ties to a religion be? Could schools with tenuous church ties abuse the ruling by applying the term "minister" to employees out of convenience? 

(I was thinking about schools that have old religious ties but aren't known as religious colleges.)

How would the protections of tenure affect the situation?

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

After posting that snippet about whether Wednesday’s Hosanna-Tabor case decision applies to higher education, I still had the feeling that some professors at religiously affiliated colleges will be asking themselves: Will this affect me? (You may remember that the Supreme Court ruling essentially allows religious schools to classify certain employees as “ministers,” leaving them exempt…

Three quick questions about this week's Hosanna-Tabor case

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