David and Candace, I think you’ve been rather prescient in your posts. Students of faith on campuses certainly can’t avail themselves to liberals for help, nor are they able to appeal to libertarians, who you’d assume to be more ideologically sympathetic. Many–though certainly not all–libertarians on campus come from the Randian school of anti-theism, holding the ego and libertine-ism to be the highest value.
I did a research paper a couple of years ago into the religiosity of the University of Michigan. While doing some ethnographic research, some leaders of religious organizations on campus openly acknowledge how they have been given the run-around by the University. For instance, the evangelical New Life Church (a student congregation), was forced to move their celebrations to different auditoriums on campus after professors passing through on a Sunday morning witnessed the dastardly worship occurring, and complained. When New Life decided to buy some off-campus property to build a permanent home, the City of Ann Arbor made so many bogus zoning and regulatory claims, it almost became prohibitive. (It should be noted, as well, that New Life is hardly the religious arm of the College Republicans. There are just as many conservative, as progressive, as apolitical students who worship there.)
Conservatives often do share a lot more ideological turf with libertarians than liberals. It’s disappointing when so many libertarians, as I’ve encountered, allow anti-theism to cloud their political philosophy. They, of course, claim to be the true constitutionalists–and yet, cling so carefully to that strange idea of the “separation” between church and state.