BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As at most colleges, students at Miami University of Ohio pay $34 per year to fund a rich stew of campus organizations -- the Society of Women Engineers, the Irish-American Club and Project Fight AIDS among them.
And now, as at a growing number of schools, Miami's funding system for activities is under attack by a small group of students.
The 11 students and four campus Christian organizations who filed a federal lawsuit against the Oxford school last week object to two things: the way their own organizations are funded, and the fact that their money supports groups that their beliefs can't.
Miami joins at least four other colleges and universities nationwide that are fighting their own students in court over funds for campus organizations. Most observers expect the U.S. Supreme Court will end up ruling on the issue, and some worry that a central mission of university life could be irrevocably altered.
"It's a big First Amendment violation waiting to get litigated at most universities," said Jordan Lorence, attorney for students suing the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin. "They're very appalling. They force students to do this. There's a very slanted list of groups who get funding, and there's no effort to balance them ideologically."
At Miami University, that $34 a year supports two separate funds: the General Fund, which distributed $348,000 to 120 groups last year, and the Marketplace of Ideas Fund, which gave nearly $10,000 to 14 groups.
The latter fund gives money to religious and political groups, something the General Fund is not allowed to do.
Although two of the four groups suing the university received money last year from the Marketplace of Ideas Fund, the students who run them think the separate pools of money are not fair. Russ Johnson, a plaintiff in the suit, also thinks students should be able to decline support for groups they oppose.
Although the Miami students won't say exactly which groups they disagree with, the objections at other schools have centered on support for gay rights, abortion, environmental causes or socialism. "What we're asking for is the only fair solution," said Mr. Johnson, a 21-year-old senior accounting major. "Whoever you want your money to go to, it goes to. I don't see how anybody couldn't agree."
But some don't agree.
"The university is not the place where you go to opt out of hearing certain ideas. You go to hear debate, dissent and all sorts of new ideas," said Robin Hubbard, an organizer with the Center for Campus Free Speech, formed to fight the funding lawsuits. She and others argue that the suits endanger a fundamental purpose of the university -- to give all ideas an airing.
"Student fees create a marketplace of ideas that contribute to the mission of the university by promoting debate and the exchange of new ideas," said Ms. Hubbard. "They're trying to make this case about religious freedom, when in fact their true agenda is to dismantle support for groups on campus and to dismantle the debate."
Although lawsuits over the issue of student fees date to at least the 1970s, a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1995 proved to be a turning point in the debate. The court ruled that the University of Virginia had to fund a Christian student newspaper when it was sponsoring other student publications.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warned in a concurring opinion that unless fee systems allowed students to opt out, they could be subject to a free-speech challenge. That hint has led to at least five lawsuits, including two in Oregon, one at the University of Minnesota and one at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
A federal appeals court found that the mandatory fees at Wisconsin violated students' First Amendment rights by forcing them to speak against their own beliefs. Many think that case will reach the U.S. Supreme Court first.
As the various lawsuits make their way through the courts, other universities are waiting and watching, hoping to avoid litigation themselves. Others have made unprompted changes; Miami created the Marketplace of Ideas Fund in response to the University of Virginia decision. But there seems to be no certain way to avoid the issue.
"In a land of increasing political and religious interest, you can't insulate yourself totally from lawsuits of this kind other than to abolish student activity funds, which would be to the detriment of the overwhelming number of students," said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel to the American Council on Education, which represents 1,800 two- and four-year colleges and universities. "I presume the courts will set the parameters."
