Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993 TAG: 9301270241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LIBERTY-AID DECISION LIKELY TODAY
Liberty University apparently has agreed to meet conditions necessary for its students to continue to receive state tuition aid, a government spokesman said Tuesday.But a lawyer for a religious-liberty group that challenged the grants said he believes required church attendance at the Lynchburg university should make its students ineligible for the aid.
The issue likely will be resolved today when the State Council of Higher Education meets to discuss it in Richmond.
In December, the council rejected arguments by Americans United for Separation of Church and State that because the school had been ruled "pervasively sectarian" by the state Supreme Court in 1991, its students should not be eligible for the taxpayer-funded grants.
The council said it had determined that Liberty provides a general collegiate education and does not violate state regulations that prohibit the tuition grants to students in schools whose primary purpose is "religious training or theological education."
But Steven Green, a lawyer for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said he believes the continued requirement for students to attend Sunday and Wednesday religious services on campus should make the students ineligible for the loans.
In a letter to the state council Tuesday, Liberty President A. Pierre Guillerman contended that Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning convocations, required of all students and faculty, "are not church services."
But he went on to say that the university "does enforce the required participation [of students, but not faculty] in campus church services or community service programs during the hours when church services are held." No roll is called to monitor participation, however, he said.
Students may participate in selected community service programs "like tutoring at local detention facilities, . . . counseling on area crisis lines and directing activities at local children's homes," in lieu of attending the church services, he said. They also are excused if they have jobs that require them to work during church-service hours.
Green, who was preparing a response to the university's letter Tuesday, called the church requirement "unsatisfactory."
His agency contends that the requirement violates one of the conditions that the state council established for Liberty.
In its December ruling, the council said Liberty had represented to its members that "certain . . . requirements are no longer enforced. Those included attendance by faculty and students at religious services and convocations," among other things.
There was some confusion about just what the council was requiring on the same day the ruling was delivered.
The afternoon of the decision, Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell said students would continue to be required to attend church and convocations.
The council's coordinator of institutional approval, John Molnar, said then, however, "our understanding is that chapel attendance is no longer required."
Tuesday, council spokesman Mike McDowell said Liberty University officials "do appear to be complying with what we asked" for in terms of making sure their publications accurately reflect requirements and expectations of students.
Liberty University lawyer Robert E. Glenn of Roanoke said he would have no comment on the letter until after the council acts on it today.
The taxpayer-financed tuition-assistance grant program provides about $1,300 a year to Virginia residents attending private colleges and universities in the state.