The University of Iowa will pay close to $2 million in attorneys fees to a religious freedom legal organization that represented two Christian student groups that sued the college for violating their right to free exercise of religion.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented Business Leaders in Christ and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in lawsuits filed against the University of Iowa for deregistering the two groups over their leadership policies. Now, after the student groups emerged victorious in federal court, the university has been ordered to pay nearly $2 million in attorney fees to Becket.
Business Leaders in Christ, represented by Becket, filed a lawsuit in 2017 after the university deregistered the group for requiring its leaders to adhere to a biblical definition of marriage.
The move prohibited the group from operating on campus and it was barred from receiving student activity funding. more here
So the university allowed a Christian organization to operate as long as they didn’t “act” Christian.
Perhaps they should rename their football team “The Iowa EvilEyes.”
I should have been a lawyer. The InterVarsity group is getting $20K and their lawyers are getting >$500K
But, good to see the Christian groups beating the establishment schools
Becket Fund is a solid outfit. They have been around for quite a while.
2 million bucks? Pffft. The university doesn’t care; it’s “free” taxpayer money. No lesson will have been learned.
Now, how about some punative damages? Not the “school”, but the perpetrators personally.
They should be forced to pay it from their endowment not from the taxpayer