Univ. of Okla. Should Have Changed Discriminatory Policy Sooner, Attorney Says
by Jim Brown
August 4, 2004
(AgapePress) - The University of Oklahoma has changed its policy on how student organizations are funded after two students accused the school of discriminating against them by refusing to fund their religious newspaper.Ricky Thomas and James Wickett filed a federal lawsuit in February claiming the university violated their constitutional rights by denying funding for their Christian newspaper, Beacon OU. Their publication received only $150 in funding while another student newspaper, The Undercurrent, was allocated $4,750.
Alliance Defense Fund attorney Kevin Theriot, who represented Thomas and Wickett in the lawsuit, says OU realized its responsibility to treat the Beacon OU no different than other student groups.
"The university agreed to change their policy that prohibited them from funding newspapers like Beacon OU, and also changed several other policies which were discriminatory toward religious students and paid our attorneys' fees," Theriot says.
As part of the settlement, OU has paid the students $2,500 and agreed to remove wording from a school handbook that prohibits student association money from being used to fund "religious services of any nature." According to Theriot, speech cannot be censored simply because it is religious.
"School should definitely be concerned if their policies discriminate against religious student speakers because it will [most likely] result in them ... having a lawsuit filed against them and possibly even damages awarded against them if they don't change their policy immediately upon becoming aware of it," he suggests.
The university's attorney agreed that its funding policy did not comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the University of Virginia was wrong to deny funding to a student-run Christian publication.
