The lawsuit filed by the evangelical student group DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship has raised the issue of Penn State's nondiscrimination policy and its application to student groups.

According to a lawsuit filed last Friday in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, the group objected to the university's nondiscrimination policy, which they believe impedes upon its ability to keep non-Christian or homosexual students from assuming leadership positions within the group.

Reactions to the news of the lawsuit were mixed.

President of Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) Joel Shibata said he could understand the objections, saying that he felt that any individual in a leadership position must "uphold the ideas" of the organization.

He also said that he would not object to anyone being a member of Cru on the basis of sexual orientation, but a leadership position would be a problem. He said the main difficulty would be the view, which he bases on the Bible, that homosexuality is a sin.

"In Campus Crusade for Christ, we wouldn't want anyone with an area of sin in their life that they aren't dealing with, to be in a leadership position," he said.

Rabbi Nosson Meretsky, Chabad advisor, said that the university has the right to set forth rules.

"It seems logical that if one wants a university student group, the university would set the guidelines," he said.

Meretsky also said he didn't think it was likely that students would join a group with views opposite their own.

Jamie Ziegenfuss, Undergraduate Student Government's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender affairs director, said that he understood religious organizations might have conflicts with the nondiscrimination policy because of their beliefs, but the policy was very important.

"I think the policy should be applied to all student organizations," he said.