Boise State University required students to pay a mandatory student activities fee for the support of student organizations. The university allocated those fees in a viewpoint discriminatory manner, requiring discrimination against religious student groups and permitting such discrimination against all other groups, in violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth, 529 U.S. 217 (2000).

 

The university excluded all religious student organizations from receiving student activities fee funding, even though these funds were available to all other organizations reflecting a wide variety of viewpoints, including one group that advocates atheistic viewpoints. Thus the university discriminated against religious viewpoints in violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Rosenberger v. Rector of the University of Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995). Moreover, the university failed to provide safeguards against viewpoint discrimination in the distribution of fees, putting all student organizations at risk of viewpoint discrimination, not just religious organizations, thus violating Southworth.

 

Plaintiffs filed a verified complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction December 18, 2008, to enjoin Defendants from exacting and allocating these fees unless and until the Defendants adopt adequate safeguards for viewpoint neutrality, including the elimination of their ban on equal treatment for religious student organizations. Defendants filed an answer, a motion to dismiss, and a brief in opposition to plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction on March 12, 2009.

 

On April 6, 2009, in light of factual developments and the parties' desire to reach agreement on remaining issues, plaintiffs filed a stipulated withdrawal of plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction and defendants' motion to dismiss.

 

The parties finalized a settlement agreement and voluntarily dismissed the case on July 31, 2009.

 

Litigation Documents

Release - August 11, 2009