## Facts

- Tennessee enacted the Postsecondary Education Authorization Act of 1974, authorizing the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to regulate degree-granting institutions through minimum standards (e.g., curriculum structure, faculty qualifications, financial stability).
- Clarksville School of Theology was a private postsecondary institution offering only theology courses, primarily serving ministers, and awarding religious degrees, including Ph.D. degrees in theology.
- Clarksville applied for authorization under the Act, was denied, and continued operating and issuing degrees while acknowledging noncompliance.
- The Attorney General filed an action for declaratory and injunctive relief to prohibit Clarksville from granting degrees unless and until it satisfied statutory requirements.
- Clarksville asserted it could not afford to meet the Act’s criteria and argued that prohibiting degree-granting would reduce enrollment and force the school to close.
- The trial court ruled for the State, finding no infringement of religious liberty; after a remand for further factual development, the trial court again ruled for the State after a full evidentiary hearing.

## Issues

1. Whether applying Tennessee’s authorization requirements for degree-granting institutions to a theological school infringes free exercise rights under the First Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution.
2. Whether enforcement of the Act against a religious theology school creates unconstitutional church–state entanglement.

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for the State.
- The court held that granting academic degrees, even in theology, is a secular activity subject to generally applicable state regulation.
- The court concluded the Act, as applied, did not burden protected religious belief or practice because the school remained free to teach theology and train ministers; only degree issuance was conditioned on meeting minimum standards.
- The court found no unconstitutional entanglement because the State’s standards addressed credentialing quality and institutional capacity rather than doctrinal content.
- The injunction barring Clarksville from granting degrees unless and until it complied with the Act was upheld.

## Legal Principles

- State regulation of the issuance of academic degrees is regulation of a secular, public-facing credential and may be applied to religious institutions without violating free exercise when it does not target doctrine or worship.
- If a law burdens free exercise or threatens excessive church–state entanglement, the State must justify the burden with a compelling interest and show no less restrictive alternative; absent a substantial burden, heightened justification is not required.
- Economic hardship or threatened institutional closure from compliance costs, without interference with religious belief or practice, does not itself establish a constitutionally cognizable free-exercise burden.
- Generally applicable standards for degree-granting that avoid review of religious orthodoxy and focus on educational and organizational criteria do not create unconstitutional entanglement.

## Conclusion

Tennessee could enforce its postsecondary authorization statute to stop a theology school from granting degrees until it met state minimum standards, because degree-granting is a secular credentialing function and the enforcement neither substantially burdened religious exercise nor required state involvement in religious doctrine.


State ex rel. McLemore v. Clarksville Sch. of Theology, 636 S.W.2d 706 (Tenn. 1982)