Funding religious student groups and federal anti-discrimination law

¶ … ABS

Despite the existence of the Establishment Clause, most state universities allow and provide funding for religious student groups. In fact, in the U.S. Supreme Court case Rosenberger v. Rector of the University of Virginia, the Court "… held that it violates the First Amendment for a school to exclude a religious student group from receiving the same access to student funds that other groups receive… the university is responsible for making sure that student government distributes the funds in a viewpoint neutral manner, meaning that student groups are not discriminated against because of their views" (Crane 2009). However, while this may mean that the grounds for the suit based upon the First Amendment may be nebulous for the ABS, under "federal law, race discrimination in education is prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI protects people from discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title VI states that:

No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance" (Race discrimination, 2009, Findlaw).