A Christian legal group has filed a complaint against the university in federal district court, alleging that the student organization funding system violates the First Amendment.
The Christian Legal Society and the USC School of Law Chapter filed the complaint on Feb. 28, attorney Casey Mattox said. Mattox said the current funding practices do not allow religious or political student organizations to receive student activity fees.
"It essentially leaves religious and political student organizations out of the funding process," Mattox said.
The Christian Legal Society is a non-profit organization that seeks "to be the national grassroots network of lawyers and law students, committed to proclaiming, loving and serving Jesus Christ, through all we do and say in the practice of law," according to the group's mission statement.
The complaint alleges that the current system lacks adequate protection against viewpoint discrimination, violating the right to free speech and that the current system also restricts the free exercise of religion.
The group has not served the university with legal papers, instead giving them until March 17 to respond
"We're hoping that the university will take action to change this before it is even necessary to serve them," Mattox said.
Jerry Brewer, associate vice president for student affairs and who is named in the complaint, said he has had no contact with the group beyond the letter he received this morning.
"Historically, we do not take mandatory fees and then convert them to partisan and religious groups that might offend students," Brewer said, adding "but we will fund their activities."
In the complaint, the group alleges "special funding money was exhausted by the end of the fall semester, leaving no money available for the spring semester." Additionally, according to finance codes, religious and political organizations can only fund "specific content neutral programs."
Mattox said the code "would prohibit you from funding anything presenting any views at all."
"It has a number of vague criteria for funding that allow for viewpoint discrimination," Mattox said.
Trey Ingram, president of the local chapter, said the group has filed the complaint to let administration know that the issue is important for them.
"We've been trying to get this resolved for over a year and a half," Ingram said. "We've just been denied, denied, denied over and over again."
Brewer said he is currently in the process of reviewing the complaint and the university's practices.
"It'll be an interesting look-see into our systems," Brewer said. "We obviously want to do the right thing."
Also named on the complaint are USC President Andrew Sorensen; Vice President for Student Affairs Dennis Pruitt; Coordinator for Student Government and Student Organizations Angela Dusenbury; Director of Student Affairs for the Law School Elizabeth Davis; the Student Senate as a body; the student body president as a body; and the Student Bar Association Finance Committee as a body.
Mattox said the lawsuit is not targeting students, but the organizations that are responsible for handling the budgets.
If the group is successful in changing USC's policies, more than 35 religious and political organizations could become eligible for funding.
Julie Nalepa, president of Campus Crusade for Christ, said although receiving university space for meetings is the organization's primary concern, funding would still be helpful.
"It's interesting that this is going up," said Nalepa, a hotel, restaurant and tourism management student. "I really don't think it would be a huge amount, but it would definitely be a blessing and it would help us."
Nalepa said the organization, with around 200 members, has various events throughout the year and supports a permanent staff. Still, Nalepa said she isn't worried about the outcome of the case because much of the organization's funding comes from private donations.
"We're really not worried about it," Nalepa said. "For the longest time I've seen the church and ministries not get the help that they need, but we get it from elsewhere."
Annie Boiter-Jolley, president of College Democrats, said university funding would help her organization fund events in conjunction with College Republicans.
"It would be helpful, even with non-partisan things like voter registrations drives," said Boiter-Jolley, a third-year political science. "I think there are activities and events that could be funded by the school that wouldn't further one organizations agenda over the other."
The Christian Legal Society's most recent religious freedom victory came against the Florida State University student senate, who froze funding to the Christian Legal Society following pressure from a gay rights group.
In March 1995, the Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 opinion, ruled that the University of Virginia imposed a financial burden on a Christian student newspaper speech and amounted to viewpoint discrimination.
- Brad Maxwell contributed to this story.
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