Troy University’s new faith-based dorm might be a hit with religious students, but it’s proving less popular with church-state watchdogs.The school, which belongs to Alabama’s system of public colleges and universities, recently opened a Catholic-run residence hall. The Newman Center features a chapel and ministry center run by the Archdiocese of Mobile – and the university itself controlled much of the project.The New York Times reports that the religious, privately owned Newman Student Housing Fund had originally proposed and developed the project, only to relinquish total control of the endeavor to Troy’s administration.The university turned to the Troy University Foundation, an affiliated non-profit, for assistance. The foundation financed the center with a bank loan, and the university rented chapel space to the archdiocese for the stunning total of $1.Troy’s chancellor, Jack Hawkins Jr., insists there’s no constitutional conflict. “It is not about proselytizing, but about bringing a values-based opportunity to this campus,” he told The Times. “The parents are the most excited. I’ve had calls to get me to intervene to get their son or daughter in there.”But what “values” has Hawkins endorsed? It seems he’s forgotten that higher education means exposure to diverse people and perspectives, especially at public universities.Supporters argue that the Newman Center is open to all students who meet basic GPA requirements and agree to abide by the dorm’s standards of living. And it’s true that public universities aren’t strangers to alcohol-free dorms, or other themed residence halls. Within reason, these halls don’t violate the Constitution.But the clearly preferential treatment given to the archdiocese is a matter of concern, and student statements about the center aren’t reassuring.Stella Burak, 20, told The Times, “We don’t want to offend people, but we don’t want to be offended.” She added, “We have to be tolerant of so many things, but nobody has to be tolerant of religion.”Her hallmate, Jorge Solis, told the Associated Press that he loves seeing Bible studies in the common areas, and added, “Many people are here to minister to others.” The AP noted that Solis is a resident advisor in the dorm, and keeps a Bible on his desk.

So much for the Newman Center’s inclusivity.The university insists that there are non-religious students residing in the dorm, but it’s worth noting that early on a university official said that Christians with an active spiritual life would get first crack at the dorm with others housed there “if there was space available.” (He later said he had misstated the rules.)

Charles C. Haynes, director of the Newseum’s Religious Freedom Education Project and a First Amendment scholar, says that’s exactly why the Newman Center shouldn’t have been built.“If you set it up as a faith-based dorm and you expand it to include all faiths, you are still making a constitutional mistake,” he told the Times. “Two constitutional wrongs don’t make a constitutional right.”As a public university, Troy University does not have any obligation to facilitate the evangelism efforts of any religious ministries on campus. Nor does it have the responsibility to build housing that exists specifically to shelter religious students from secular student life.If Burak and her hallmates want a Christian college experience, that opportunity exists. The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities boasts 119 member schools. At these private institutions, students don’t have to worry about encountering different belief systems because those belief systems are grounds for expulsion. I attended a private Christian college. I didn’t meet an atheist until I studied abroad, and until graduation, my only experience with a different religion consisted of a class trip to a synagogue.That approach to higher education doesn’t belong at a public university. Troy University has no business endorsing the Newman Center, and its administration would do well to listen to those who have raised the constitutional alarm.