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friday. march 7, 1980 (ofoYl Wlfl OCF
lincoln, nebraskavol.104.no. 40 V-JVJUU W U VU J " IU
Religious groups placed on- probation
By Mary Jo Pitzl
In a 40 decision, the ASUN Student
Court ruled Thursday that Christian lectur.
cr Josh McDowell's campus speech Jan. 30
violated the NU Board of Regents' religion
policy. The court placed the four student
religious groups who sponsored McDowell's
speech on one-year organization probation.
In his dissent. Chief Justice Scott Cook
said the court has no authority to place the
groups on probation, arguing that ASUN's
legislative branch has that responsibility,
The opinion was delivered 16 days after
the seven -member court heard arguments
in the Persson vs. Campus Crusade case.
The case was brought by UNL sophomores
Randall Lambrecht and Scott Persson, who
claimed that McDowell's speech in the
Nebraska Union violated the regents'
religion policy and university postal
regulations.
The regents' "religion policy, adopted
in 1973, states "university facilities will
not be available for any organized event or
activity if one of its essential features is
religious worship or testimony in any of
its various forms. . ."
Persson and Lambrecht asked for the
student charters of the sponsoring organi
zations to be revoked.
Defendants named
Defendants named in the suit included
Campus Crusade for Christ, Marlin Secvers,
president; Baptist Student Union, Richard
Heir., president; . Inter-Varsity Christian
Fellowship, Susan Ewert, president; and
Navigators-UNL, Weldon Hoppe, president,
Kristin Torell, vice president and Lynn
Rogers, secretarytreasurer,
'Testimony," the cornerstone for argu
ments in the case, was clarified in the
court's 17-pagc opinion.
Writing for the majority, student justice
Bob Gleason said: " 'Religious testimony' is
understood by this Court to be, and by any
reasonable standard is, an open public
declaration of a personal religious or
spiritual revelation."
"The evidence clearly indicates that an
essential feature of the speech was an open
public declaration on' the part of Mr.
McDowell of ' a personal religious or
spiritual revelation "Gleason wrote.
Chief Justice Cook was joined in his
dissent by Justice Mari Lane. Justice Karen
Langland wrote a separate dissent.
Vague and overbroad
In his dissent, Cook said the univeristy's
religion policy is "vague and overbroad"
and therefore should be unenforceable.
His opinion revealed a concern that
students' right to freedom of speech is res
tricted by the policy.
Cook acknowledged that the Student
Court is not the forum for deciding
constitutional issues and said he feels the
court should adopt a new policy in the
interest of protecting students' freedom of
speech.
Student files for ASUN presiden
cy after ruling. Page 7.
'The court should imply a very strict
standard of review where the regulation in
question governs speech," Cook wrote.
The court also is incorrectly assuming
legislative duties . by placing the four
student organizations on probation, Cook
said. There is no authority for such a move,
he said .
In her dissent, Langland said the court's
definition of "testimony" forbids free
speech and therefore is "overly restrictive."
Guideline, not rule
Langland noted that the regents'
religion policy was not established as a rule
but rather as a guideline.
"Any sanction imposed as a result of
this 'court's decision would be too harsh ,"
Langland concluded.
The one-year probation, to be monitor
ed by ASUN's Constitutions Committee,
prohibits the organizations from using
university facilities for their activities.
Included in the ban are use of the Nebraska
Union for organizational meetings and the
student banking services.
Although the court was divided in its
religion policy interpretation, all seven
Regents once mandated
student church attendance
Although university officials may have
difficulty interpreting the current religion
policy, there was a time when NU religious
practices were outlined explicitly.
In 1872, three years after the university
was founded, the NU Board of Regents
ruled that students must attend daily
rlrapel exercies and Sunday church services,
according to Robert N.' Manley in A Cen
tennial History of the University of Ne
braska. Chancellor Allen R. Benton and most
of the faculty then were ordained minis
ters, Manley wrote. He added that ordained
faculty members were nothing unusual, but
rather were in keeping with practices of
most universities of the day.
In his inaugural address, Benton said
that state-supported education need not be
atheistic, for a university "must always be
interested in truth, and all truth is perme-
ated with the idea of God." People would
demand that Christian principles be recog
nized, he said, "because it reflects the aver
age religious character of the people."
Organized protest to the religious policy
started in 1875, culminating in Benton's
resignation at the end of the year. Manley 's
book says Benton was the victim of a
"squeeze play." '
justices agreed that charges . of violating
campus mail policy were unfounded. No
such policy exists, the court ruled. :
Lambrecht said he and Persson were
pleased with the court's decision. He said
he hopes the case will set a precedent for
future disputes on religion policy linuations.
Lynn Rogers secretary treasurer of
Navigators-UNL said in a press conference
Thursday afternoon that all four sponsor
ing organizations "regret that testimony
is defined in such a restrictive sense."
New hearing
Rogers said the four groups plan to ask
the court for a new hearing, at which they
will produce two new pieces of evidence.
He declined comment on what the
evidence would be.
Rogers said he hopes the case won't
have to be heard again in higher courts, but
the groups feel a need to fight for freedom
of speech.
. "The very fact 'testimony' has not been
defined by the regents has put all Christian
groups in a position where they don't
know what they can say, what they can do
in the university," Rogers said.
Rogers said- that the court's finding
against religious groups prompted him to
announce his plan .to run as a write-in
candidate for ASUN president. He said
if elected, he would not just push to have
the religion policy rewritten, but to have it
abolished as restrictive of free speech.
When asked what he would do to pro
tect the constitution's provision for separa
tion of church and state, Rogers directed
the issue to the regents.
Sport center
'That might be an interesting question
to ask the regents since they allow
testimony and religious worship in the Bob
Devaney Sports Center," Rogers said.
Amending its religion policy in 1978,
die board of regents exempted the sports
center from the university wide policy.
ASUN President Bud Cuca disagreed
with certain points of Chief Justice Cook's
dissent. Cuca said that because the Student
Court is a branch of ASUN and ASUN is
charged with regulatory powers, the court
has the right -to place the four organi
zations on probation.
Cuca said the court has a right to carry
out its own decisions, "but 1 couldn't give
you a document that would support that."
Answering to Rogers' allegation that
there is no longer an appeals process for
LIIUULII I. . . UUl L 1 1I1.1L. I I I 1.
Council on Student Life was abolished last
summer. Cuca said an appeals process still
exists.
The Student Court has the option to
either hear the defendants' request for a
new trial or to set up an appeals board,
Cuca said. He said this policy has been
adopted in the absence of the CSL appeals
process.
. 9 J . im.ni
Hot metal
Photo by Tom Genner
Ted Sheffield, junior, carefully holds
a long steel rod to control the flow of
the 2000 degrees metal. Ted's father,
Prof. Thomas Sheffield, is a sculpture
teacher. Hie statue's mold, which
determines its shape, was made by UNL
graduate Larry Smith.
Wessels scores
highest em test; Mmmon declines
By Patti Gallagher
LSD party candidate Tim" I. Munson
made his mark in the opening ASUN presi
dental candidate debates by pointing out
similarities between, his position and
Christ's. Thursday, Munson demonstrated
another . envious quality. He studies.
Munson was the only presidential can
didate who declined to participate in a test
about the UNL system administered by
the Innocents Society. According to Inno
cents President Bob Moodie, Munson
"cited reasons of studying" for refusing to
take the test.
Munson could not be reached for
comment Thursday afternoon.
The 100 questions were given to the
other three candidates to test "the objec
tive knowledge that is considered necessary
for ASUN presidential candidates " Moodie
said.
US party candidate Renee Wessels
scored 92 percent on the test. STAR party
candidate John Parsons scored 76 and Jay
Willhoft, running independently, answered
44 of 100 questions correctly.
Hie. test also was issued to a control
group' of six students who have been in
volved in ASUN activities for one year or
more, Moodie said. Hie average control
group score was 81.1 percent, he said.
Moodie said he wrote the test with the
suggestions of three other students. ASUN
President Bud CucaJ)aily Nebraskan
Editor in Chief Rocky Strunk and Daily
Nebraskan ASUN reporter Kent Warneke
also contributed.
Fifty test questions were "Who Is"
material, Moodie said. Questions included
identifying UNL administrators, members
of the NU Board of Regent, persons in
fluential in student affairs, deans of all
colleges, and some student leaders.
Moodie said the "Who is" group is com
posed of "people the president would have
to know. i
Hie remaining half of the test centered
on ASUN procedures and structure, pro
cedures of the regents, and a couple of mis
cellaneous questions, he said.
Although no one question seemed to
consistently stump the candidates, "the
specific deans tended to be the most diffi
cult for both the candidates and the con
trol group," Moodie said.
The Innocents Society, an academic
honorary for seniors, issues the test annual
ly to ASUN candidates in cooperation with
the Daily Nebraskan. In past years, Moodie
said, the tests have been essays which were
printed in the paper.
He said the process was changed last
year because campaign coverage of the
candidates' overlapping essay publication
was becoming redundant.
Although Wessels, Parsons and Willhoft
were not required to take the test, Moodie
said, the three participants were "very
cooperative.
