Quote:
Originally posted by Optimist Prime
Private or no, I think they have to use the federal constituion if they get federal money.
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If by "use" the federal constitution you mean that private educational institutions cannot restrict the rights guaranteed by the Constitution (such as the right of free association), then that would be a big "nope."
The Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, is the document that establishes the federal government and its powers and limitations, that defines the relationships between the states and the federal government, and that in some instances defines the relationship of private citizens to the government. Various amendments, both in the Bill of Rights and elsewhere, protect individual rights from governmental -- state or federal -- interference, but those constitutional provisions simply do not apply to private institutions.
With regard to the right to freely associate, the First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no laws . . . abriding the freedom of speech . . . or the right of the people to peaceably assemble . . . " (The right of free association is based on these clauses, and the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the states, including states-sponsored colleges, from infringing on the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment.) Congress can make laws prohibiting private institutions from violating civil rights, but private colleges are not prevented by the Constitution from prohibiting certain organizations on campus. One simply cannot claim that a private instutution has violated one's constitutional rights.
As far as receiving federal money goes, federal money cannot be used in an unconstitutional way, but that does not make the recipient of the federal money generally subject to the constitutional restrictions placed on government. The more common situation is that Congress attaches strings to the receipt of federal money -- if you want federal money, then you have to comply with those conditions. Private institutions choose not to receive federal funds so as not to have to deal with the conditions established by Congress.
But the Constitution only deals with the relationship between government and the governed, and between the federal and state governments.