Board of Regents v. Southworth

2000

Venue: SCOTUS

Facts: Segregated fees are disbursed by SGA and also by referendum to various organizations.

Posture: District court and Ct App invalidate the program as a violation of 1A.

Issue: Does this violate free speech, free association, and free exercise?

Holding: Not necessarily. Remanded.

Rule: A university can collect fees to fund extracurricular activities if the program is viewpoint-neutral. The referendum policy is not that, though.

Reasoning: The university is free to determine that students would benefit in dynamic discussions of all sorts of issues, and it can impose a fee to make that happen. It just can't prefer some viewpoints to others.

Dicta: