ABSTRACT
In Rosenberger v. University of Virginia, 515 US 819 (1995), the US Supreme Court ruled that the University of Virginia's denial of student activity funds to a campus religious organization violated the students' right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Using funds generated by student activity fees, the University of Virginia paid printing costs to an outside printer for the publications of selected student organizations. The Court majority relied primarily on the free speech argument. It focused on the university's stated intent that student activity funds should go to groups that enhanced its educational purpose, including groups involved in disseminating news, information, and opinion. The Court concluded that the university was practicing "viewpoint discrimination" and found its refusal to fund publications that "primarily promote or manifest a particular belief in or about a deity or ultimate reality" to have a stifling effect on the exchange of ideas.
