GLOs + lawyers = wins

[hoosier]

GLOs + lawyers = wins
==============

Part 1:
Christian frat at UNC to regain official status

BY ERIC FERRERI : The Herald-Sun
eferreri@heraldsun.com
Feb 16, 2005 : 10:46 pm ET

GREENSBORO -- A Christian fraternity at UNC is on the verge of regaining official status as a student organization following a hearing Wednesday in federal court.

The three members of Alpha Iota Omega sued UNC last year in a dispute over the university's non-discrimination policy that would have required the fraternity to admit non-Christians.

UNC attorneys appeared Wednesday to concede some ground on the issue, leaving the students and their lawyers beaming.

No conclusion was reached, but the sides agreed to work together on a legally binding document that, once approved by federal Judge Frank W. Bullock Jr., is expected to reinstate Alpha Iota Omega as a recognized student organization.

"The judge basically agreed with us [Wednesday] that the policy has some constitutional problems," said Jordan Lorence, an attorney representing the fraternity. "The university agreed to issue some clarification of the policy. I think this is a great victory for freedom of speech."

Part 2:

Judge acquits frat members of illegally occupying condemned house
2005-02-14
By Jim Phillips
Athens NEWS Senior Writer

Athens County Municipal Judge William Grim found six Ohio University students innocent of illegally occupying their fraternity house last month after the city code office posted placards declaring it unsafe.

In his ruling issued Tuesday after a bench trial Feb. 1, Grim concluded that members of SAE fraternity did not act with "recklessness" in a legal sense when they entered the frat house at 57 E. State St. to gather up their belongings. Grim added that he believes the fault lies mainly with the fraternity's housing corporation officials, who apparently misadvised the students that they would not be breaking the law against occupying the house as long as they did not sleep there overnight.

"The court believes these defendants, among others, were misadvised by those in authority at the fraternity, for whom the residents' safety was not the utmost priority," Grim wrote in his decision.