Public Funding, Private Colleges: The Push for Secularism

Does a university have to be secular in order to receive funding from the state and/or the U.S. government? Apparently the Free Masons believe this to be true.

A fight over using public money for a Catholic university is now before The Missouri Supreme Court. The case involves Saint Louis University, which wants $8 million in public money in the form of tax-increment financing for its new planned basketball arena.

But opponents argue that the funding would violate church/state separation provisions in both the U.S. and Missouri constitutions.

While school officials say they are not downplaying the university's Jesuit heritage, they've sparked a debate by arguing that Saint Louis University is not controlled by the Jesuits or the Catholic Church.

Although I would argue that no where in the US Constitution does it say that there must be a separation of church and state, I cannot say the same thing about the Missouri Constitution because I don't know myself. However, if it is there, should the state of Missouri really be prevented from allotting funds to SLU? I would say no considering that Research-1 universities, including this one, tend to use much of their research to be used in the public sphere (e.g., research regarding public health. Ask SLU's bio and chem departments about work they are doing regarding vaccines and immunizations).

I see it as a balance between public (tax) dollars and public benefits. Either a school that receives funding for public benefits should also have access to other public dollars that can go towards non-research related projects or neither. That's the position I would take regarding this dilemma if I were SLU and not the argument that it isn't Jesuit or Catholic. This latter position only alienates its faculty, students, and alumni from any type of support they would lend to the school in order to receive state funding.

Full disclosure: I am an alumni of SLU.