The Regents propose what appears to be minor housekeeping in its draft revision of its policy on recognizing and funding student organizations. Admirably, the Regents propose folding an apparently redundant clause on restrictions on funding for sectarian, political, or for-profit student groups into briefer preceding language:
These strikes and revisions appear to leave in place a ban on student fee subsidies for student groups that conduct religious, political, or for-profit activities. The revision simply justifies the religious ban by citing South Dakota’s constitution ban on public support for religious activities (“No money or property of the state shall be given or appropriated for the benefit of any sectarian or religious society or institution“—hey! That’s our Blaine Amendment! Lee Schoenbeck, are you going to Rapid to testify?). The revision also backs up the political ban by pointing to the ever popular SDCL 12-27-20, which says we cannot use public resources for political campaigns… and student fees are clearly public resources. (Students who want to circumvent that ban need to vote for Jason Ravnsborg, who is either ignorant or contemptuous of that statute and as Attorney General would surely not enforce it against himself or any fellow Republicans.)
This revision may actually change the scope of the religious ban. The current text says, “No student organization will be eligible for student fee subsidies of its operating expenses if predominant activities involve sectarian ceremonies or exercises….” The revision would say, “No student organization will be eligible for student fee subsidies if the funding is prohibited by Article 6, § 3 of the SD Constitution because it will be used for sectarian ceremonies or exercises.” Again, I invite lawyerly parsing, but on the one hand, removing “of its operating expenses” and “predominant activities” makes the funding ban sound broader—no money for religious groups, period, whether they do nothing but hold religious services or just occasionally proselytize between volleyball games and trivia nights.
Hey, and while I’m thinking of it, is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance a sectarian exercise? It does involve that phrase “under God,” which is a sectarian appeal. If any organization opens with the sectarian-flavored Pledge, could we argue that the group would run afoul of the revised funding policy?