Des Moines Register
11-06-06
Religion, money lead to flap at ISU
Also, a student senator's remarks about Judaism prompt a discussion on
sensitivity.
By LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. - Iowa State University Jewish students are upset with the way a
debate was handled over whether student leaders should give grants to a
student group to buy books used in a religious ceremony.
The flap has triggered a campuswide discussion about whether student leaders
have enough knowledge about different religions to distribute student-fee money
to religious student groups like ISU Hillel, a Jewish student organization, or
Campus Crusade for Christ, which involves Christian students.
The student government is distributing about $1.45 million this year.
Members of ISU Hillel have questioned the intentions of one student leader,
Jason O'Leary, who reportedly said during a student government meeting last
month that if "they've been Jew," people should already have the religious book
being discussed. He reportedly then said that if they "turn Jew," he was unsure
whether they'd have the book.
O'Leary, 24, an ISU student senator, said he wasn't trying to be anti-Semitic at
the meeting. He was in a minority of senators who voted against giving the group
money but said he stood up and apologized at the end of the meeting to anyone
he had offended.
"I said if people were already Jew - meaning if they were already Jewish," he
said, adding that he believed he said the word "Jew" only once during the
meeting. "There were people (who) didn't like me using the word. I didn't know it
was offensive."
Members of the student government ultimately voted to give $376 to the ISU
Hillel.
Students at ISU pay about $180 a semester in mandatory activity fees, some of
which is redistributed by the student government.
Student fees are used for a variety of student groups at Iowa's universities and
have triggered controversy in the past.
An ISU student group called Cuffs, a club founded in 2000 that teaches about
sexual bondage, has attracted scrutiny for its ability to grab a share of student
fees.
Cuffs received $129.48 this year.
Some student leaders - including O'Leary - said their initial opposition to
spending student fees on ISU Hillel was rooted in a broader concern over using
student fees to help religious groups.
"The whole idea of religions competing with each other for public money ... that
sort of competition sort of scares me," said Tom Dworzanski, 22, an ISU senior
who is also on its student government panel.
Dworzanski said part of the problem is that students might not understand
enough about different religions.
"The problem is that you know with some religious groups that aren't necessarily
mainstream, the stuff they are asking for isn't stuff you can necessarily review,"
he said, referring to ISU Hillel's request for copies of the Haggadah, the prayer
book read at the Seder, a ritual meal that tells the story of Passover, when the
Israelites fled slavery in Egypt.
"It took me a while to figure out what it is," he said. "When you talk about the
Haggadah, you don't necessarily know what it is you're funding," he said.
Universities have historically struggled with whether using student fees for
religious groups violates the First Amendment, which precludes government from
acting to establish religion.
Paul Tanaka, university counsel at ISU, pointed to a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court
case, Rosenberger vs. Rector. The court's ruling required the University of
Virginia to provide student fees for the production of a Christian publication.
Tanaka said the case prohibits universities that provide student fee cash
generally for all student groups from excluding religious organizations from the
cash stream - a troubling dilemma for some.
"The Supreme Court decision poses a huge number of problems to campuses,"
he said.
"We still have an obligation for separation of church and state, and yet we're not
allowed to engage in viewpoint discrimination."
Ian Guffy, an ISU student government member and president of ISU Hillel, said
the debate over whether to spend cash on ISU Hillel highlighted the need for
more awareness on campus of the proper ways to refer to Jewish students.
"Somebody is not 'Jew,' " said Guffy, 20. "I don't know what part of speech that
is. That does not work."
Ron Jackson, an ISU psychologist and adviser to ISU Hillel, said referring to
someone as "Jew" is more objectifying than saying he or she is Jewish.
"A Jew - that's all that matters," he said. "That defines the totality of the person.
That's also how the Germans used 'Yid.' If someone's a Yid, you kill them."
Dworzanski and Guffy are working to revamp how ISU's student government
doles out money to religious groups.
Jewish students and faculty at ISU estimated that there are about 200 Jewish
students on campus, out of the nearly 27,000 students.
The university does not maintain data on student religious affiliation.
In Iowa, adherents to Judaism constitute less than 1 percent of people who
attend a congregation.
Nationwide, 4.3 percent of those who attend a congregation identify themselves
as Jewish, according to a 2000 report on religious congregations and
membership conducted by the Glenmary Research Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Religious Groups that received student fee money at Iowa's three public
universities:
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
Campus Crusade for Christ - $2346.13
Lutheran Student Movement - $624
The Navigators - $1178
ISU Hillel - $376.98
Muslim Student Association - $1261.55
Total: - $5786.66
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA:
Campus Crusade of Christ: $191 out of a total of $202,386 in student fees
distributed.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: Only gives portions of the $825,000 of student fees it
has to spend this year to student religious organizations that promise to create a
cultural impact on campus with their grants. Under those standards:
UI Christian Legal Society: $279
UI Muslim Student organization: $1,000.
total: 1,279