THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508260014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Grant Neely's ``After this decision, we should all be wide awake'' (Another View, Aug. 18) warns us that the Supreme Court's decision that the University of Virginia cannot deny student activity funds to a student group that wants to publish a Christian magazine may cause many more problems - even to churches demanding government funds to build their churches.
I think the original problem at U.Va. was caused by people like Mr. Neely - those who read much more into a decision than what is there. The problem was simple. Student organizations could request funding based on published criteria. The complication arose when the university denied a student organization funding simply because it was a religious group. The student organization met the published criteria for receiving funds.
If any other student organization wants to publish a magazine that discusses school affairs from its point of view, it will have to compete with all the other student organizations (not just the ones with a religious bent) for the limited funding. The rules to determine which student organizations will get funding are already in place.
Saying the students wanted to publish a ``Christian'' magazine is a misrepresentation of the facts. They simply wanted to provide other students at U.Va. a magazine to provide articles and dialog from a Christian perspective. They were not planning to convert the student body to their religion.
If Norfolk establishes an economic-development fund to attract businesses, then a church could apply for funds to construct a new worship center (an example used by Mr. Neely). As far as I know, a church is not considered a business, so I fail to see how this could happen or what relevance it has to a student group's right to free speech, or at least equal access to free speech.
RAYMOND CICIRELLI
Portsmouth, Aug. 18, 1995 by CNB