UW Madison must fund religious activities

[Susan Freiman]

    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online <http://www.jsonline.com>
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    Catholic group wins suit


          By ERICA PEREZ
          eperez at journalsentinel.com <mailto:eperez at journalsentinel.com>


          /Posted: Jan. 17, 2008/

University of Wisconsin-Madison officials must stop denying funding to 
student groups for prayer, worship or proselytizing, U.S. District Judge 
John C. Shabaz ordered Thursday.

The case is the latest in a series of challenges to the university's 
student fee program, in which all students pay a fee to fund student 
organizations on campus. It's the second time the university has sparred 
with one student group, the Roman Catholic Foundation. At issue is 
whether the university can legally deny funding for certain types of 
religious activities.

The university argued in this case that it would violate the 
constitutional separation of church and state to pay a student group for 
activities related to prayer or worship. But lawyers for the Roman 
Catholic Foundation countered that the university's policy of denying 
reimbursement violated the students' First Amendment rights to free speech.

Shabaz sided with the foundation in his preliminary injunction.

"Defendants have engaged in viewpoint discrimination in violation of 
plaintiffs' First Amendment free speech rights," he wrote in the order.

Even if the university reimburses the foundation for last year's 
religious activities, the legal battle is far from over.

In November, the foundation was denied funding for 2008-'09 because the 
group did not meet the university's requirement of having an educational 
benefit or service to the community.

The foundation had argued that this requirement was a vague standard 
that gave the university unbridled discretion to deny funding to any 
group. Here, Shabaz disagreed with the group and denied its request for 
an injunction.



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 From the Jan. 18, 2008 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=708591&format=print

see also 
http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2008/01/18/wi/01wis0118.txt 
<http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2008/01/18/wi/01wis0118.txt>
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