226 STEVENS, J., dissenting not. Id., at 270-277; see also, id., at 280-281 (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment). To extend Widmar to high schools, then, would require us to pose two questions. We would first ask whether a high school had established a forum comparable under our Free Speech Clause jurisprudence to that which existed in Widmar. Only if this question were answered affirmatively would we then need to test the constitutionality of the Act by asking whether the Establishment Clause has different consequences when applied to a high school's open forum than when applied to a college's. I believe that in this case the first question must instead be answered in the negative, and that this answer ultimately proves dispositive under the Act just as it would were only constitutional considerations in play. The forum at Westside is considerably different from that which existed at the University of Missouri. In Widmar, we held that the university had created "a generally open forum," id., at 269. Over 100 officially recognized student groups routinely participated in that forum. Id., at 265. They included groups whose activities not only were unrelated to any specific courses, but also were of a kind that a state university could not properly sponsor or endorse. Thus, for example, they included such political organizations as the Young Socialist Alliance, the Women's Union, and the Young Democrats. See id., at 274; Chess v. Widmar, 635 F. 2d 1310, 1312, and n. 1 (CA8 1980). The university permitted use of its facilities for speakers advocating transcendental meditation and humanism. Since the university had allowed such organizations and speakers the use of campus facilities, we concluded that the university could not discriminate against a religious group on the basis of the content of its speech. The forum established by the state university accommodated participating groups that were "noncurriculum related" not only because they did not mirror the school's classroom instruction, but also because they advocated STEVENS, J., dissenting 496 U. S. controversial positions that a state university's obligation of neutrality prevented it from endorsing. The Court's opinion in Widmar left open the question whether its holding would apply to a public high school that had established a similar public forum. That question has now been answered in the affirmative by the District Court, the Court of Appeals, and by this Court. I agree with that answer. Before the question was answered judicially, Congress decided to answer it legislatively in order to preclude continued unconstitutional discrimination against high school students interested in religious speech. According to Senator Hatfield, a cosponsor of the Act: "All [it] does is merely to try to protect, as I say, a right that is guaranteed under the Constitution that is being denied certain students." 130 Cong. Rec. 19218 (1984). As the Court of Appeals correctly recognized, the Act codified the decision in Widmar, “extending that holding to secondary public schools." 867 F. 2d 1076, 1079, and n. 1 (CA8 1989). What the Court of Appeals failed to recognize, however, is the critical difference between the university forum in Widmar and the high school forum involved in this case. None of the clubs at the high school are even arguably controversial or partisan.5 The Court of Appeals quoted the following comment by Senator Levin: "[T]he pending amendment is constitutional in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Widmar against Vincent. This amendment merely extends a similar constitutional rule as enunciated by the Court in Widmar to secondary schools." 130 Cong. Rec. 19236 (1984). Other Senators agreed. See id., at 19221 (statement of Sen. Leahy); id., at 19237 ("[T]he Court was right in Widmar, and this bill seeks only to clarify and extend the law of that case a bit. . . . What we seek to do by this amendment is make clear that the same rule of law applies to students in our public secondary schools") (statement of Sen. Bumpers); id., at 19239 (statement of Sen. Biden). See also Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 17-19, nn. 21-22 (collecting references to Widmar from Senate and House debates). 5 The Court of Appeals also put too much weight upon the existence of a chess club at Westside. The court quoted an exchange between Senator Gorton and Senator Hatfield in which Senator Hatfield, a cosponsor of the 226 STEVENS, J., dissenting High Nor would it be wise to ignore this difference. school students may be adult enough to distinguish between those organizations that are sponsored by the school and those which lack school sponsorship even though they participate in a forum that the school does sponsor. See ante, at 250. But high school students are also young enough that open fora may be less suitable for them than for college students. The need to decide whether to risk treating students as adults too soon, or alternatively to risk treating them as children too long, is an enduring problem for all educators. The youth of these students, whether described in terms of "impressionability" or "maturity," may be irrelevant to our application of the constitutional restrictions that limit educational discretion in the public schools, but it surely is not irrelevant to our interpretation of the educational policies that have been adopted. We would do no honor to Westside's administrators or the Congress by assuming that either treated casually the differences between high school and college students when formulating the policy and the statute at issue here.6 Act, told Senator Gorton that a chess club would be "noncurriculum related” under the Act. 867 F. 2d, at 1078-1079. The exchange is completely inconclusive, however, when read in context. Senator Gorton's questions were designed to show that Senator Hatfield could not offer any satisfactory definition of "noncurriculum related." Senator Gorton's strategy succeeded, and in the course of the exchange Senator "Hatfield offered just about every possible interpretation in less than two columns of the Congressional Record." Laycock, 81 Nw. U. L. Rev., at 37. Senator Hatfield eventually conceded that whether a chess club was "noncurriculum related" would depend upon what the school district's lawyers had to say about it. 130 Cong. Rec. 19225 (1984). This Court's majority does not place any special emphasis upon Senator Hatfield's reference to chess clubs, see ante, at 245-246 (discussing chess clubs without reference to the legislative history), and I agree that it deserves none. 6 What I have said before of universities is true a fortiori with respect to high schools: A school's extracurricular activities constitute a part of the school's teaching mission, and the school accordingly must make "decisions concerning the content of those activities." Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U. S. STEVENS, J., dissenting 496 U. S. For these reasons, I believe that the distinctions between Westside's program and the University of Missouri's program suggest what is the best understanding of the Act: An extracurricular student organization is "noncurriculum related" if it has as its purpose (or as part of its purpose) the advocacy of partisan theological, political, or ethical views. A school that admits at least one such club has apparently made the judgment that students are better off if the student community is permitted to, and perhaps even encouraged to, compete along ideological lines. This pedagogical strategy may be defensible or even desirable. But it is wrong to presume that Congress endorsed that strategy-and dictated its nationwide adoption-simply because it approved the application of Widmar to high schools. And it seems absurd to presume that Westside has invoked the same strategy by recognizing clubs like the Swimming Timing Team and Subsurfers which, though they may not correspond directly to anything in Westside's course offerings, are no more controversial than a grilled cheese sandwich. Accordingly, as I would construe the Act, a high school could properly sponsor a French club, a chess club, or a scuba diving club simply because their activities are fully consistent with the school's curricular mission. It would not matter whether formal courses in any of those subjects—or in directly related subjects-were being offered as long as faculty encouragement of student participation in such groups would be consistent with both the school's obligation of neutrality and its legitimate pedagogical concerns. Nothing in Widmar implies that the existence of a French club, for example, would create a constitutional obligation to allow student members of the Ku Klux Klan or the Communist Party to 263, 278 (1981) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment). Absent good reason to hold otherwise, these decisions should be left to teachers. Id., at 279, and n. 2. See also Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U. S. 675, 691, and n. 1 (1986) (STEVENS, J., dissenting). 226 STEVENS, J., dissenting have access to school facilities. More importantly, nothing in that case suggests that the constitutional issue should turn on whether French is being taught in a formal course while the club is functioning. Conversely, if a high school decides to allow political groups to use its facilities, it plainly cannot discriminate among controversial groups because it agrees with the positions of some and disagrees with the ideas advocated by others. Again, the fact that the history of the Republican Party might be taught in a political science course could not justify a decision to allow the young Republicans to form a club while denying Communists, white supremacists, or Christian Scientists the same privilege. In my judgment, the political activities of the young Republicans are "noncurriculum related" for reasons that have nothing to do with the content of the political science course. The statutory definition of what is "noncurriculum related" should depend on the constitutional concern that motivated our decision in Widmar. In this case, the District Judge reviewed each of the clubs in the high school program and found that they are all "tied to the educational function of the institution." App. B to Pet. for Cert. 25-26. He correctly concluded that this club system "differs dramatically from those found to create an open forum policy in Widmar and Bender." Id., at 26.8 I agree 7 Although I recognize that JUSTICE MARSHALL reads Widmar more broadly, I respectfully disagree with that reading. Moreover, even if language in Widmar supported that reading, the language would be dictum, given the distinction-acknowledged to be critical-between "the wideopen and independent character of the student forum in Widmar" and the substantially different character of Westside's program. See ante, at 265 (MARSHALL, J., concurring). In Bender v. Williamsport Area School Dist., 563 F. Supp. 697 (MD Pa. 1983), the school officials conceded that any organization conducive to the intellectual or moral growth of students could meet during the activities period. Unlike the school officials in this case, the Williamsport officials had not claimed that the forum was limited on the basis of whether a |
