A nearly five year court battle regarding the University of Wisconsin’s segregated fees for campus organizations came to an end this week after a Wisconsin state court ordered the UW System to produce $500,000 in settlement funds to the Badger Catholic student organization
Badger Catholic Chair Nico Fassino said the dispute began when funding decisions passed down by the university seemed to reflect religious discrimination.
“The situation wasn’t that we had requested funding and the university denied the request; the situation was that the university had approved the funding,” Fassino said. “The lawsuit was in response to the fact that content was being censored, and money was being withheld that had already been approved because of [the organization’s] religious nature.”
The core issues revolve around the separation of church and state and the First Amendment – concepts Fassino said should not have been called into question in the dispute.
According to Badger Catholic, the original amount of reimbursement money refused by the university was roughly $35,000.
After the initial ruling that UW violated the group’s First Amendment rights, the university responded by bringing the issue of church and state separation to the US Supreme Court.
[From March 2011: Supreme Court does not take up Badger Catholic case. ](https://badgerherald.com/news/2010/12/13/regents_petition_for.php)
“We were seeking clarification on a fundamental constitutional issue,” UW System spokesperson David Giroux said.
The Supreme Court did not take up the case.
Donald Downs, a UW political science professor and First Amendment expert, said Badger Catholic had every right to the funds in question.
“If the university gave money directly to the student organization, as long as the Catholic group meets the criteria established for university groups, then they are entitled to the same considerations as any other group applying for segregated fee money,” he said.
Downs also said the Supreme Court’s denial of the university’s request for review of the initial ruling was justified because the fact that the group is Catholic should have no bearing in funding decisions.
As long as the funding comes through segregated fees, Downs said, it remains constitutional under the separation of church and state.
According to Fassino, none of the $500,000 settlement will end up in Badger Catholic’s pocket.
“We are not receiving a cent,” Fassino said. “The judge said that he would be willing to award lawyers’ fees but not award the compensation for the original denial.”
Despite this, Fassino said he is overall pleased the organization was able to set a precedent on both the First Amendment and the principle of the separation of church and state.
“I’m very happy that finally the last chapter of this long lawsuit is finished,” Fassino said. “Both Badger Catholic and the university can move past an ordeal that lasted five years and continue serving students.”
