A settlement was reached in the UW Roman Catholic Foundation federal lawsuit against the UW System Board of Regents and four UW-Madison administrators Thursday.
""This settlement is beneficial to RCF, UW-Madison and UW System,"" Casey Nagy, executive assistant to Chancellor John Wiley, said in a release. ""Our students have the opportunity to be part of a registered student organization that complies with our requirements for recognition and funding.""
The suit, filed in early November by the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, claimed the university discriminated against the organization on the basis of religion when it was denied recognition as a registered student organization.
""Catholics—and Christians of any faith—should not be treated as second-class citizens on campus, and this agreement provides the foundation with full legal equality,"" ADF Senior Counsel David French, director of CAF, said in a statement.
""This settlement represents an extremely positive outcome for religious liberty and for the Roman Catholic Foundation's long-term presence on campus. We're glad that the foundation can now move forward with its ministry without fear of loss of recognition from university officials,"" French said.
As part of the settlement, the suit will be dismissed and UWRCF will drop its complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice. Pending Regent approval, the foundation will receive approximately $253,000 in student fee funding for the 2007-'08 academic year.
—Amanda Hoffstrom
