UW-Madison's Roman Catholic Foundation filed a motion against the university Monday claiming it determined money distribution based on the group's religious ties.
Specifically, the complaint asks UW-Madison to not use the group's religion in deciding funding, to treat RCF-UW like any other registered student organization and to reimburse $39,000 in costs university officials said they would cover in the group's budgets, but later retracted.
We're not asking for special treatment,"" David Hacker, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund that is defending RCF-UW said. ""We just think, and the law says, that Christian student groups and Christian expressions should be treated the same as all other expressions on campus.""
Monday's complaint comes on the heels of a series of lawsuits in the past year in which RCF-UW accused the university of similar biases.
In the complaint, RCF-UW alleges the university was not viewpoint neutral in determining the group's funding in previous years and broke university code.
Under viewpoint neutrality, UW-Madison officials do not consider a group's ideology or religion when allocating funds for their activities.
RCF-UW also claims the university charged the group for materials after they were supposedly approved for funding in RCF-UW's budgets from 2006 to 2008.
The items and activities, which totaled $39,000, were tied to prayer or worship. They included rosary booklets, retreats and Evangelical Catholic training camps.
Tim Kruse, an RCF-UW spokesperson, called the organization's struggle for equality a ""non-stop assault.""
""It's just straight up, blatant discrimination,"" Kruse said.
In May 2007, the university and RCF-UW settled a November 2006 lawsuit that recognized the group as a registered student organization and funded its budget requests for 2006-'07 and 2007-'08.
A lawsuit filed in September accused the university of violating the May settlement and demanded a reimbursement of $39,000.
According to Hacker, the violation came when the university began monitoring each of the group's activities in June to determine if they included too much prayer.
""RCF spent the money [in its budget] expecting to be reimbursed for the allocation,"" Hacker said. ""Then the university decided they're not going to reimburse certain events because there may have been students engaging in Christian speech.""
UW-Madison officials have denied any violation of the May settlement.
""We are fully in compliance with the terms of the agreement, and have done as the law requires in the administration of state funds,"" Dennis Chaptman, a University Communications spokesperson said.
Kruse said RCF-UW has had difficulties establishing their status on campus since they first applied for funding with the Student Services Finance Committee in 2003.
""We were just amazed at the hostility of the students on the SSFC toward our application,"" he said, emphasizing that RCF-UW was ""by far the largest student group on campus"" and ""the only group of our size that did not have full-time staff funded through segregated fees.""
Although no court date has been set, RCF-UW's Chair Beth Czarnecki said the group is taking the first step to ensure equal treatment for all student organizations.
""We look forward to a resolution of these latest allegations, which unfairly and irresponsibly seek to label this university as harboring hostile attitudes toward the RCF,"" Chaptman said.
