[15750] in APO-L
Re: acui_net Important Court Ruling.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (nancy davis metz)
Fri Dec 6 10:51:09 1996
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 10:48:02 -0500
Reply-To: nancy davis metz <ntdavis@INDIANA.EDU>
From: nancy davis metz <ntdavis@INDIANA.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.961205171453.13005D-100000@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu>
FYI:
ACUI's December Union Wire and January Bulletin includes articles about
this issue. The Wire should arrive on your desk any day, and the Bulletin
will be in the mail the first week of January.
Nancy Davis Metz
ACUI Associate Executive Director
On Thu, 5 Dec 1996, Tom Brown wrote:
> I just received this from another list and I am trying to get feedback
> from other campuses and also to get the information out to people.
> Specifically, is there a similar movement on your campus, is it big, what
> do others feel? I think the court has it all wrong and will ultimately
> destroy a significant part of college life.
>
> Anyway, here is a new discussion issue. Isn't the timing great
>
> In Leadership, Friendship & Service
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> + Thomas E. Brown Jr. tebrown@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu +
> + +
> + University of Texas at San Antonio +
> + University Center +
> + 6900 N Loop 1604 W +
> + San Antonio, TX 78249 +
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 09:53:42 -0600 (CST)
> From: gfitch@COMP.UARK.EDU
> To: Patricia Nolfi <tnolfi@rci.rutgers.edu>
> Subject: Re: Wisconsin case
>
> Here is a copy of the article as reproduced from the Chronicle of Higher
> Education's Academ Today...
>
> Judge Says U. of Wisconsin Students
> May Not Be Forced to Pay Activity Fees
>
> A federal judge ruled Friday that the University of Wisconsin at
> Madison had violated the First Amendment rights of three students
> when it required them to pay activities fees that subsidized campus
> organizations they opposed.
>
> U.S. District Judge John C. Shabaz said that because the university
> had imposed the fees on the students without allowing them to opt
> out of its activities fund, it was denying the students their
> right not to
> speak and not to associate.
>
> "The university must provide some sort of opt-out provision or
> refund system for those students who object to subsidizing political
> and ideological student organizations with which they disagree,"
> Judge Shabaz wrote.
>
> The case may be part of a broader movement to challenge
> mandatory student-fee policies at universities across the United
> States. It followed a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last year in a
> case involving student fees at the University of Virginia. In
> that case,
> the Court's majority ruled that the university could not bar the
> allocation of student fees to a religious publication. Doing so, the
> Court said, was a violation of free- speech rights.
>
> Like the University of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin collects
> mandatory student-activities fees as part of tuition packages that
> must be paid by all students. The fees, which total $331.50 each
> year for each student, cover activities and services such as
> intramural sports and the student government. About one-sixth of
> the fees collected is distributed by the student government to 140
> clubs and organizations on the campus.
>
> Three law-school students, who call themselves conservative
> Christians, objected to the allocation of their money to 18 groups,
> including Amnesty International, the International Socialist
> Organization, the Militant Student Union of the University of
> Wisconsin, the Ten Percent Society (a group for gay and lesbian
> students), and WISPIRG (an acronym for the Wisconsin Public
> Interest Research Group, which lobbies for environmental causes).
>
> Scott H. Southworth, Amy Shoepke, and Keith Bannach first took
> their complaint to the student association that disburses the
> student-activities money. They then asked the university's Board of
> Regents, which oversees the disbursement of money for student
> organizations, if they could be exempted from the mandatory fees.
> When they did not get a response, they sued the board.
>
> "Our frustration was building," Mr. Southworth said. "Many
> students have been objecting to the way the student association
> spends money and what it does with it."
>
> Mr. Southworth added that the aim of the lawsuit was not to
> deprive left-wing groups of financial support. "Liberal atheists
> should not have to pay for organizations they oppose either," he
> said. "People should be able to opt out."
>
> But the university argued in court that, by distributing students'
> money to a wide range of organizations, it was providing a
> "viewpoint-neutral forum" that served an educational purpose. Such
> a forum is similar to a city park or a university kiosk, said Pete
> Anderson, a lawyer for the university and a former assistant state
> Attorney General. "Anyone who wants to hold a rally in the park
> can do so; a university kiosk should be open to anyone. The
> university's provisions of money for postage or printing costs are
> sufficiently similar to be considered a forum."
>
> Judge Shabaz did not accept that argument. Portions of the fees, he
> wrote, "are being used clearly to fund political or ideological
> activity, not to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas."
>
> Lawyers for both sides relied on the words of the Supreme Court
> when it ruled in Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the
> University of Virginia, the 1995 case about the use of student
> fees to support a religious magazine.
>
> In the Rosenberger case, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor noted in a
> concurring opinion "the possibility that the student fee is
> susceptible
> to a Free Speech Clause challenge by an objecting student that she
> should not be compelled to pay for speech with which she
> disagrees." Jordan Lorence, the lawyer for the Wisconsin students,
> said Justice O'Connor's opinion "signaled a new day" and handed
> him a compelling argument.
>
> The University of Wisconsin's lawyers backed up their arguments
> by noting the Supreme Court's analogy in the Rosenberger case of
> university clubs to a public "forum."
>
> Wisconsin has not yet decided whether it will appeal. In the
> meantime, the student government and some administrators are
> lamenting Judge Shabaz's ruling.
>
> "The practical impact will be to decrease the number of student
> organizations here," said Mary Rouse, the dean of students. "Many
> can only survive if they can get money through the fees." The
> students' ability to govern themselves has also been threatened, she
> said.
>
> -- Lisa Guernsey
>
>
>
> Gene Fitch, Jr.
> Assistant Dean for Judicial Affairs
> University of Arkansas
> ARKU M405
> Fayetteville, AR 72701
> Phone: (501) 575-5170
> FAX: (501) 575-7969
>
>
>
>
