THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 6, 1995 TAG: 9511060079
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
The University of Virginia's governing board this week will consider overhauling its funding guidelines for student organizations, opening the door for political groups to get money and for any student to withhold the fee for activities, board rector Hovey S. Dabney said.
Dabney said the proposal - in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling that U.Va. unjustly denied funding to a Christian magazine, Wide Awake - is aimed at safeguarding free speech on campus and U.Va.'s legal standing.
``We're trying to do everything in our power to avoid more suits,'' Dabney said.
U.Va. spokeswoman Louise M. Dudley said the university estimates that it spent $100,000 to $200,000 on the Wide Awake case. It also must reimburse the lawyers for Ron Rosenberger, the former student who sued the university. Dudley said his lawyers haven't submitted their bill, but in testimony before the U.S. Senate last month, Rosenberger estimated the suit cost ``well over $400,000.''
Through a $28-a-year activities fee, U.Va. collects about $450,000 a year from its students, Dudley said. The student government doles out that money annually to more than 125 groups.
The university's rules have prohibited funding for fraternities or religious and political groups. In August, the board changed its regulations, opening the process to Wide Awake. The amendment declared that student ``news'' or ``entertainment'' groups should not be deemed ineligible for funds if they advocate religious viewpoints.
But the board said it would come back with more detailed changes at its fall meeting, to be held Friday and Saturday.
Few universities have adopted voluntary fee systems, but some think it offers an appealing legal escape hatch: The Wide Awake decision is expected to force schools to fund more student groups. But by making the fees optional, schools presumably could avoid suits from students who object to the groups their money would be helping.
The down side is that an ``opt-out'' process could become an administrative nightmare and seriously reduce funding for student groups, critics say.
``It could diminish the number of activities that are offered and put everything on a voluntary basis,'' said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, a Washington lobbying organization for colleges. ``Them that has the clout would be the big winners.''
Yet at Michigan State University, which has offered refunds since at least the '70s, only 110 of 32,000 undergraduates this fall chose to get their $20 annual fee back, said Maria Hansen, the school's acting director of student life. And most do so because they're part-time or commuting students, not because of ideological reasons, she said.
``It's kind of incredible what they get for that amount of money,'' Hansen said, citing, for instance, a subscription to the student newspaper and access to a lawyer. ``Most students don't want to give that up.''
Dabney also doesn't foresee a great financial loss if U.Va. adopts the optional system: ``I just don't believe that the average student is really concerned about the $28, that you'd have any far-reaching movement.''
Earl C. Dudley Jr., a U.Va. law professor and associate general counsel at the school, declined to discuss the proposal for political groups. But he said it's a ``tricky issue'' because the Internal Revenue Service bans tax-exempt organizations, such as colleges, from getting involved in political campaigns.
``Constitutional lawyers will say, `The First Amendment must trump the Internal Revenue code,' but you're playing in very risky waters here.''
Some schools, including Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech, have attempted a compromise: Offering funding to political groups, as long as they don't promote political candidates.
U.Va. student leaders have already grappled with the issue this semester: On Tuesday, the Student Council denied a $729 funding request from the University Democrats, saying the group was ``political'' and, therefore, ineligible.
The group's executive director, Jesse A. Rosenthal, said he plans to appeal the decision. He classified his group's activities, such as sponsoring speeches, as educational. None involves lobbying or electioneering, he said.
``It is reprehensible to exclude political speech for the same reason it was wrong to exclude religious speech,'' said Rosenthal, a senior from Burke, in Northern Virginia. ``It excludes an entire class of viewpoints. . . .
``Politics is a fundamental part of society. If you erect higher hurdles for political groups, you then run the risk of driving people who are trying to learn something about society away from politics.'' by CNB