Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
That gives the losing side time to file an appeal with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before Liberty's season opener against West Virginia Tech at home Saturday.
Liberty University, football coach Sam Rutigliano and four players filed suit against the NCAA Thursday, charging that a new policy aimed at stopping show-off behavior means they cannot practice their faith the way they want.
They asked U.S. District Judge James Turk at a hearing Thursday afternoon to issue a temporary restraining order that would prohibit the NCAA from enforcing the policy, which bans such things as spiking a football, taunting an opponent and - Liberty's concern - kneeling after touchdowns.
A temporary restraining order, which can last up to 10 days, would apply only to Liberty's next two games. Turk said he would not sign the order prepared by Liberty's attorneys, which would have prohibited the policy from being enforced everywhere.
"I'd be hesitant to issue a temporary restraining order nationwide," Turk told the lawyers.
Turk said after a hearing Thursday afternoon that he wants to make sure the federal court has jurisdiction over the National Collegiate Athletic Association, a private organization that members join voluntarily.
The policy is not specifically anti-prayer, but kneeling - for any reason - in the end zone is included in conduct that will be penalized because it delays the game and calls attention to that player.
The NCAA notified schools this summer that it planned to begin enforcing 3-year-old policies regulating player conduct.
"We decided in the final analysis that [kneeling] falls under the delay," said Vince Dooley, chairman of the NCAA's football rules committee. "We felt in no way did this restrict prayer. Prayer can come in many other forms other than kneeling."
The Liberty football team was informed Saturday by an official that kneeling after a touchdown would result in a 15-yard penalty. After the second time, a player would be ejected from the game.
That's when Liberty cried foul. The evangelical Christian school considers athletics an important part of its efforts to convert others to Christianity. Athletes in all sports at Liberty often try to spread their faith to opposing players after games.
The school is suing under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that the law bans any type of discrimination in a "public accommodation" like Liberty's football stadium.
Henry Sackett, a Lynchburg attorney drafted Thursday to represent the NCAA at the hearing, said the intent of the policy is to bring football back to the way it used to be, "when it was purely a team game, when players weren't out there to focus attention on themselves."
"A player who scores a touchdown can pray in his mind," Sackett said. "Prayer's not a physical thing, it's mental."
But Liberty attorney Tom Neuberger argued that the policy allows prayer by athletes who "are willing to pray the way the NCAA tells them to," but discriminates against "the young men who believe on occasion they have to give glory to God."
Neuberger is an attorney for The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville-based religious liberties organization that is representing Liberty.
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, Liberty's founder and chancellor, is predicting the NCAA will punt the kneeling-to-pray ban. Falwell said he believed many of the members of the NCAA rules committee are "fine Christian people" who "just made a mistake on this issue."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nondenominational advocacy group, supports Liberty's position.
"Curbs cannot be placed on private religious activity," said spokesman Rob Boston in Washington, D.C.
Although it takes place in a public arena, a silent prayer is considered private activity, he said. "The players aren't trying to lead others in prayer."
Boston acknowledged that suing the NCAA is "an odd situation," because it's not a restaurant, hotel or other "public accommodation" to which the Civil Rights Act is normally applied.
If Turk declines to halt the policy for Saturday's game against West Virginia Tech, Rutigliano said the team was "100 percent" in favor of taking the penalties.
From now on, Liberty could be "kicking a lot of balls from the 20-yard line," he said.
Staff writers Cody Lowe and Dan Uthman contributed information to this story.
by CNB