Student-Organization Funding Must Be Viewpoint-Neutral. UNC-Chapel Hill should stop favoring progressive clubs.

Student organizations play a major role in shaping a campus environment outside of the classroom. Students’ participation in athletics, activism, extra-curricular learning, events, and other activities is typically organized by student-run clubs that work to supplement formal academic instruction. Many such organizations are funded by their respective universities, which means that close scrutiny of potentially discriminatory funding practices is merited. Indeed, there are drawbacks to using mandatory fees to subsidize student organizations at all.

UNC-System schools provide substantial funding to registered student organizations by allocating revenues collected through mandatory student fees. UNC-Chapel Hill states that its required student-organization fee “supports the growth of student organizations, and the mission of each unique group.” Funding for each such organization is determined by the student government after an application process. In the fall 2023 semester, UNC-Chapel Hill allocated more than $900,000 to its registered student organizations. NC State University, meanwhile, allocates over $250,000 per year to student organizations.

Because student organizations are financed through mandatory fees, universities are bound by a standard of viewpoint neutrality when distributing funds. Two Supreme Court decisions, Rosenberger v. University of Virginia and Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth, require, respectively, that funds must be distributed without regard to a student organization’s viewpoint and that students cannot be compelled to pay fees if funding criteria are not viewpoint-neutral.

On many university campuses, the student government does the allocation of funds to the student organizations. There is a separate fee charged to students each semester and that becomes the source of money for community activities.

Thus, whatever group of students wins the elections to be on the student government board, they tend to allocate the funds according to their wishes.

I live in Chapel Hill. We have a very large Muslim population of students and faculty. You might remember a few years ago when several of the Muslim students who were in the Dentistry program were shot here.

While this attack sounds a bit fake, it was in our local paper last week. Franklyn Street is the main street in town and campus.

UNC Muslim Student Group Shares Post on Alleged Attack; No Assault Yet Filed to Local Police
by Brighton McConnell

“After sending out an alert to its members about an alleged assault in Chapel Hill, the UNC Muslim Students Association publicly confirmed its contact with the apparent victim and said it plans to work with university leadership to ensure Muslim students’ safety.

An emergency email sent Tuesday to all registered members of the organization said a Muslim student was attacked on Franklin Street around 6 p.m. The email said an individual wearing an Israel flag and carrying a knife assaulted the person, but that “the Muslim student is safe at this time.” Word of the incident was first shared in a social media post on Tuesday night by an account with no identifying name — which has yet to be independent reviewed by Chapelboro.

The MSA’s initial message on Tuesday encouraged everyone in the group to stay away from Franklin Street. It advised its members to not walk alone around campus, suggesting that people find someone else to walk with or utilize a free student-run service that helps safely escort UNC community members. An additional post on the organization’s Instagram story encouraged extra caution for those wearing a hijab.”

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