ADF Applauds UW Chancellor's Approval of Catholic Group Using Student Fees
by Jim Brown
May 8, 2006
(AgapePress) - - University of Wisconsin-Madison's Chancellor John Wiley has recommended that a campus Catholic group be allowed to use student fees to print religious booklets and support its religious activities. Wiley says he will endorse $145,000 in funding for the UW Roman Catholic Foundation, even though he has concerns that it may violate the so-called "separation of church and state." The Catholic group, which is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), had threatened to sue if the funding was not allowed.
David French, an ADF-affiliated attorney, is applauding the recommendation to allow use of the UW student funds for the campus religious group's materials and activities. He notes that student fees are used for a wide variety of expressions at the university.
"They pay for political activities, they pay for cultural activities, and they pay for athletic activities," French notes. He says student fees are used to "help students buy everything from drinks and food at events to ... print materials that they distribute at rallies."
This recommendation by Chancellor Wiley is part of a growing trend, the ADF spokesman says, a pattern that suggests Christian groups are increasingly no longer settling for discriminatory policies and unequal access on their campuses. He believes campus religious groups have become more assertive in demanding fair treatment over the last several years.
The case involving the UW Roman Catholic Foundation is "another in the long line of cases for the last 25 years on campus," French contends -- a succession that he says is "designed to demonstrate and to show that Christian student groups and Christian individuals on campus are not second class citizens."
Wiley's decision to endorse the $145,000 in funding for the Roman Catholic Foundation goes to the UW System Board of Regents next for final approval. The case is being closely watched by school administrators and religious groups across the United States.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
