Ball State University (BSU) has
changed a policy that led to discrimination against “religious, political, or
ideological” expression and resulted in a pro-life student group being denied
funding awarded to left-leaning political groups on campus.
The Indiana public school has agreed
as part of a legal settlement to pay the university’s chapter of Students for
Life the $300 that it was initially denied from the Student Activity Fee
Committee (SAFC) earlier this year and has also changed its previous policy on
student activity funding allocation.
While the SAFC grants funding to other political student groups – Feminists
for Action, Secular Student Alliance and the LGBT group Spectrum – BSU Students
for Life was denied funding in February that would have been used to share
educational resources with pregnant and parenting students. The funding was denied on the basis of the
organization’s pro-life viewpoints.
A lawsuit filed in June points out
that BSU previously gave the SAFC authority to decide which groups may receive
the funding from the mandatory student activity fees. Students affiliated with Students for Life had
paid a total of more than $1,000 per year in student activity fees at BSU but
were still denied access. Students for
Life accused the BSU student government of “playing favorites” and “stifling
free speech.”
But now, BSU has altered its student
fund allocation policy so that student activity funds will be made available on
a “viewpoint-neutral manner.” The new
policy has now gone into effect. “Viewpoint-neutral
funding means that funding decisions are not based on a group’s point of view
or message and funding will not be denied because the recipient of the funds
advocates a particular opinion,” the new policy states. “Viewpoint-neutral criteria for evaluating
funding proposals may consider only factors that are not tied to viewpoints.”
Additionally, BSU has agreed to pay
$12,000 in legal fees to the group’s lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom
(ADF). “Public universities are supposed
to provide a marketplace of ideas, but that market can’t function properly if
university officials promote some views over others,” ADF Legal Counsel Caleb
Dalton said in a statement. “Ball State
has taken some important first steps in eliminating the most blatantly
unconstitutional aspects of their policies and honoring its intent to ‘respect and
learn from differences in people, ideas, and opinions.’ We sincerely hope this serves as a catalyst to
review all policies to maximize the free exchange of ideas at BSU.”
Students for Life of America President
Kristan Hawkins praised the settlement.
“We’re encouraged that Ball State is reversing its discrimination against
pro-life students,” Hawkins stated. “Tolerance
is a two-way street, and BSU Students for Life deserves equal access to funding
and the continued opportunity to share their message of hope with pregnant and
parenting students.”
Students for Life of America is the
nation’s largest pro-life youth organization with more than 1,200 groups
nationwide. The BSU case is not the
first time that the organization has had to press legal action against
university and college administrations. Last
August, Colorado State University settled a lawsuit brought on by Students for
Life after the school refused to give the campus chapter $600 to fund a pro-life
speaker. Students for Life was also
represented by ADF in that case. ADF has
also come to the aid for Students for Life at California State University - San
Marcos after the group’s funding request for $500 to host a pro-life speaker
was denied. ADF pointed out that the
California State University - San Marcos provided nearly $300,000 to its Gender
Equity Center and the LGBQTA Pride Center for expressive activities in the
2016-2017 academic year. The Students
for Life group was looking to provide some balance to the pro-abortion speakers
the school had hosted in the past. Last
January, Students for Life at Queens College in New York City sued the school because
a student panel refused to grant the group registered status. After filing a lawsuit, the school approved
the pro-life group’s registered status.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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