
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 16, 1995                   TAG: 9511160021
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PUBLICATIONS

IF A UNIVERSITY of Virginia fee subsidizes any student publication on any subject, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer, it must also subsidize specifically religious publications. The 5-4 decision remains unjustifiably meddlesome, contrary to the First Amendment principle of government neutrality toward religion, and ripe for revision.

But waiting until the court comes to its senses is, of course, an option not open to UVa. Wisely, Mr. Jefferson's university has sought instead to (1) comply with the decision while (2) trying to honor the notion that a public agency should avoid the religion-proselytizing business.

The first part of complying came soon after the ruling, when the UVa Board of Visitors amended the policy so that religious publications were no longer excluded from sharing in the bounty from the student-activities fee. The second part came last week, when the board agreed to let students next year request a partial refund of the heretofore mandatory fee.

Students could get $7 refunded from the $28 annual student-activity fee by turning in a form and identifying religious or political groups (which until now also had been ineligible for the publications subsidy) with which they disagree. The refundable amount is based on university officials' assessment of how much of the fee goes to publications.

Seven bucks isn't a lot of money. But UVa officials fear that, without an escape clause, the program might invite more litigation - this time, from those on the other side who don't want their university-mandated and -collected money helping pay for the propagation of religious or political beliefs that they don't share.

The solution for UVa may be the best available, but it isn't an entirely happy one. The percentage of the student-activity fee that goes to publications apparently is a rough estimate, and one that could change if enough students opt out of paying it. The burden for acting remains on those who wish to opt out of subsidizing religious publications. The situation remains a convoluted mess.

And if not an administrative nightmare, it does create more paperwork - unneeded, had the court not decided to micromanage the university's student-publications policy.

by CNB