In what has been more than a five-year battle, a federal court in Chicago ruled the University of Wisconsin should not deny religious student organizations funding due to worship, prayer or proselytizing, a suit brought on by the UW student organization Badger Catholic.
Former Chancellor John Wiley denied Badger Catholic — then known as the UW Roman Catholic Foundation – funding granted from the Student Services Finance Committee in February 2006.
Badger Catholic responded by filing a lawsuit against UW in November 2006, stating UW’s funding denial on the basis of religious affiliation violated the organization’s First Amendment rights.
The suit settled in May 2007, the terms of which included UW funding Badger Catholic’s budget for the 2007-08 academic year and considering future budget requests the same as any other student organization.
Peace did not last long, however, with Badger Catholic filing another suit in September 2007 because UW placed restrictions on and even denied certain items of the budget, which were meant to fund religious events and materials, according to the archives.
Since then, UW junior and President of Badger Catholic’s Board of Directors Nico Fassino said the case has “bobbed around in some of the circuit courts,” with rulings in favor of UW as well as Badger Catholic.
The ruling did not grant Badger Catholic the $40,000 UW originally withheld, which, while putting Badger Catholic in a financial predicament, is not why the suit was filed, Fassino said.
Badger Catholic pursued the suit to understand which groups UW could and could not grant funding to. Prior to the ruling, UW maintained funding would not be given to groups where prayer, worship or proselytizing occurred.
“I think we would all love if there was some way — even in part — to figure out some compensation, but at this point we’re just happy the court has affirmed this,” Fassino said.
Fassino said the ruling not only benefits Badger Catholic and UW, but the nation as well.
“We’re just very happy that this precedent has been set because this is going to allow religious groups of any faith on any campus to really deepen the level of services…they provide and to expand the work that we’re all already doing in a very meaningful way,” Fassino said.
Fassino added he was under the impression the decision of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court would not be appealed at a higher level.
Fassino said the main reason UW will not appeal is Judge Frank Easterbrook’s reputation as “a standard-setter in terms of judicial precedent,” and Badger Catholic’s attorney said appealing his decision in all likelihood would not be successful.
Either way, Badger Catholic is looking toward the future, rather than the past.
“Now that this court has affirmed the ruling of the lower courts…I would hope we can just move forward with this,” Fassino said.
UW spokesman Dennis Chaptman said the university is declining to make comment until further legal analysis has taken place. He did not know when the analysis would be complete.
