Roman Catholic Foundation of UW-Madison

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The Roman Catholic Foundation of UW-Madison (previously known as UWRCF, now RCF-UW) is a Registered Student Organization partially operation out of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Library Mall. The organization is known for it's dispute with Student Services Finance Committee over segregated fees the groups says it was entitled to. In the last budget session, RCF-UW received approximately $255,000 in segregated fee funds.

Segregated Fee Dispute

Religion and Limited Public Forum

RCF-UW has become one of the most controversial student organizations on campus due to what it has argued is it's right to segregated fee dollars. While critics of the move often cite the separation of church and state (and more specifically, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment), after years of legal battles and debate, this argument has proved unsuccessful. Some in the university, including Chancellor John Wiley and Dean of Students Lori Berquam, have made the argument that RCF-UW is prohibited from receiving funds because segregated fees are state funds and would be a violation of The Establishment Clause.

Due to the fact that the segregated fee system is a limited public forum — which allows a government entity to choose the participants, but not based on that group's message — the same rules do not apply, the Roman Catholic Foundation argues. If the group meets the criteria set for the limited public forum (in this case, being a registered student organization and serving the entire student body with a defined service), then the group should be allowed into the forum.

History

Major dispute over funding for the group came about in 2004, although there had been problems following the Supreme Court decision in UW Board of Regents v. Scott Southworth, et al. District Court Judge John C. Shabaz further rulings that UW's segregated fee policies were not viewpoint neutral. In 2004, SSFC denied funding to the group (then referred to as UWRCF) due to it's mission statement, which indicated the group was open to "Roman Catholic students," thereby preventing other students from using the group's services. The Catholic group changed the phrase to "all students" and were finally awarded funding.