Fire's Guide to Student Fees, Funding, and Legal Equality on Campus

Disparate funding of student organizations at colleges and universities has for years thwarted student attempts to raise awareness of provocative campus issues. By denying funding to organizations whose viewpoints are controversial or out of current fashion, administrators ensure a campus that lacks meaningful, substantive debate and that unfairly restricts speech. A 9-0 Supreme Court decision in Wisconsin v. Southworth (1999), in conjunction with the decision in Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1996), ensures that student organizations must be funded without regard to the message they propound (content neutrality). FIRE’s Guide to Student Fees, Funding, and Legal Equality provides a thorough explanation of the significance of student activity fees and their direct correlation with free expression and campus equality. This Guide provides students with the information they need to stand up for the fair distribution of student funds and educates administrators on the intricacies of this largely unexplored area of First Amendment law. It aims to answer the following questions:

How does one wage an effective and successful campaign against disparate funding at my institution?

How does one respond to an administrative claim that it is under no obligation to fund my worthwhile cause?

What is the best method of requesting funding for my organization?

When is too little funding an effective denial of funds and repressive of speech?

Jordan Lorence is senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, living and working in Phoenix, Arizona. He has litigated First Amendment cases since 1984 in courts across the United States. Mr. Lorence is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Minnesota Law School. Mr. Lorence argued the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth student fees case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the students in 1999. He has participated as co-counsel in other cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.