News

Judge provides new RCF victory

A U.S. District Court judge ruled Jan. 17 the University of Wisconsin must fund the Roman Catholic Foundation until their trial in June.

In a preliminary hearing, Judge John Shabaz, who will preside over the June trial, ruled UW had participated in “viewpoint discrimination” when it denied funding requests from RCF. UW denied the funds in attempt to protect the separation of church and state.

As part of an earlier lawsuit settlement, UW agreed to pay $253,000 for RCF’s budget but refused to pay $39,000 for budget items the university claims included “prayer, worship and proselytizing.”

According to Tim Kruse, former RCF director of development who first filed the lawsuit, UW violated RCF’s First Amendment rights. He said UW discriminated against speech because it promoted a certain type of religion.

Kruse said UW does not have the right to suppress speech because it does not endorse the content.

“They cannot say which speech is good and which is bad,” Kruse said.

Kruse added the ruling bodes very well for RCF in the upcoming trial. He said RCF will likely win, citing a previous ruling by the 7th Circuit Court in favor of the student group in a similar case.

“To anyone who knows the law on [the issue], it should come as no surprise,” Kruse said. In a statement, UW spokesperson John Lucas wrote while the judge ruled against UW on the religion issue, he did uphold the university’s use of “significant additional component” for allocating student group funds.

He added the judge who ruled the qualification “did not inject unbridled discretion in the student fee allocation process.”

UW is choosing not to issue any statements of opinion about the issue until the trial is over.

“As this is a preliminary ruling, there remain matters to be developed and litigated as the case heads toward trial in June,” Lucas wrote. “The university will continue its strong defense.”