After a second attempt to garner funding from the University at
Albany in New York failed, the conservative student group
Collegians Action Leadership League of New York has filed a lawsuit
against the State University of New York System and the UAlbany
Student Association.

<p>The student group bases the lawsuit on the opinion that
they should receive the same funding as their liberal counterpart,
the New York Public Interest Group. NYPIRG receives more than
$100,000 each year in student funding through a referendum method
that allows students to decide whether to contribute part of their
tuition to a student group. CALL-NY received about $1,000 last year
from the student association, but the group wants to up that to
$106,000, which amounts to a $5 fee from each student per year.

<p>CALL-NY has tried to receive student funding twice
before, first last spring and recently last fall. The student
government at UAlbany refused the group’s eligibility for the funds
for a second time, which is what spurred the group to sue.

<p>CALL-NY is assisted by the Campus Leadership Program, a
division of the Leadership Institute that helps students start and
maintain conservative groups on campus.

<p>”CALL-NY addresses the same issues as NYPIRG, but from
a conservative viewpoint,” Campus Leadership Program Director of
Public Relations Jim Eltringham said. “They think that they should
be able to get the same funding.”

<p>The Wisconsin counterpart to NYPIRG is the Wisconsin
Student Public Interest Research Group, which deals with
environmental and political issues from a liberal standpoint. The
conservative group similar to CALL-NY is Collegians for a
Constructive Tomorrow. Both groups are funded by student fees,
unlike the situation in New York. WISPIRG received $75,500 in
funding last year, and will receive $95,000 in funding next year.
CFACT received $69,000 last year and will receive $78,000 next
year.

<p>ASM Finance Director Ben Hawke was surprised to hear
that CALL-NY does not receive student funding, as its Wisconsin
counterpart does. At the University of Wisconsin, all student
groups receive funding from student fees if they meet certain
requirements; political affiliations are not taken into
account.

<p>In 2000 the Supreme Court heard the case of
<i>Southworth v. the Board of Regents</i> over the
issue of student funding. The case dealt with political
affiliations of the student groups in relation to the funding they
receive. In 2002, Judge John Shabaz ruled that, when deciding which
groups get student funding and how much, the student government
cannot take into account the group’s political or religious
views.

<p>”The ruling in the Southworth case applies to everyone
but was especially for Wisconsin,” Hawke said.

<p>The difference between Wisconsin and New York may be
related to the process in which the student government allocates
funding. The UW’s student organization funding branch is the
Student Services Finance Committee, and both WISPIRG and CFACT have
SSFC status, unlike groups such as the Sierra Student Coalition,
which does not.

<p>There have been no recent developments in the case as
to when the case will go to court. The University at Albany
declined to comment, as it has not been named as a party in the
case.

<p>