Students Sue Boise State Over Religious Group Funding

Six Boise State students are suing the university over its policy that prohibits religious student groups from receiving money from student fees, the Arbiter reports. The lawsuit was filed on December 18 by students who are represented by the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom.

Boise State collects a mandatory student activities fee and disburses that money to various student groups on campus. Religious groups, however, are explicitly excluded from the funds because of a state law that prohibits state funding of religious organizations, a university official said.

In a similar case, Rosenberger v. University of Virginia, the Supreme Court held that the school violated the First Amendment rights of its Christian magazine staff by denying them the same funding that was available to secular student-run magazines.