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Members of the Student Secular Alliance will vote on a revised draft of their constitution which removes references to religion in hopes of returning to the Student Government Association to ask for funding.
A senate argument over the definition of religion left the organization high and dry.
The bill to make SSA eligible for SGA funds passed the Student Internal Affairs Committee last month, but the full senate denied funding by a 7-3 margin.
SSA can still request funds to bring speakers to campus, said Student Internal Affairs Chair Karl Giuseffi. However, funding eligibility would mean they could also get money for other uses, including trips.
The SSA constitution does not promote any certain religion or group of religions. It does refer to free thinking, especially through atheism, agnosticism, naturalism and humanism.
"The difference between promote and study is substantial," Giuseffi said in an e-mail. He supported funding the group and disagreed with the senate's decision that SSA was a religious organization.
Senator Tim Carr voted against the funding eligibility both in the Student Internal Affairs Committee and in the full Senate because he saw SSA as religious. However, he says he thinks the group has a right to be on the campus.
"That's what a college campus is all about," he said.
To Carr, SSA's variety of freethinking philosophies made it similar to Campus Crusade for Christ, which is made up of a variety of Christian denominations.
"Since I could not in good conscience fund Campus Crusade, I could not in good conscience fund the Secular Student Alliance," Carr said.
In the committee Carr said he'd asked the group if it could be considered a religious organization. Since the answer was yes, he decided he had to vote against funding eligibility.
SSA president Jacob Henry said the group is more focused on philosophy than religion and does not promote any specific viewpoint, but rather an examination of several viewpoints. Their purpose is to educate the public on free thought.
After the funding request went from the Student Internal Affairs Committee to the full senate, Henry said he was hopeful but not optimistic. When it was voted down, he wasn't sure the senate had gotten enough information about SSA's mission and thought it might have focused too much on the opinions of its members.
"I'd be very disappointed if they said atheism was a bad thing," Henry said. "I'd hope our elected officials would be able to rise above the public."
Since the SSA's constitution currently focuses on its members' viewpoints in its mission statement, the organization has rewritten the constitution to clarify its philosophical stance.
A draft of the new constitution replaces a couple phrases in the purposes section. Currently it states they will examine "The universe and our place in it." That would be replaced by "the universe and humanity." Instead of providing a community for "atheists, agnostics, humanists, naturalists and freethinkers" the new constitution would list only freethinkers. Members of the SSA are scheduled to vote on the new constitution Thursday.
The SSA's plans include a supply drive for a local domestic abuse center and a Spiritual History Week at the end of April to examine the impact of religion on culture.
Senator Isaiah Howard cast the tie-breaking vote in the Student Internal Affairs Committee to approve funding eligibility.
"USD wants to be a diverse campus and keep people enrolled. I saw this as a way to spark interest," Howard said.
Howard did not see a problem voting for SSA to receive SGA funds because they were planning on hosting forums, speakers and exploring the reasons for personal belief - not promoting religion.
He said the senate was misled by the wording of the constitution, which caused senators to be unwilling to approve funding to a religious organization, especially one that supported atheism.
"I thought that it was really sad. Minds were made up from the very beginning. I think if SSA had come and talked (to the senate) it would have been different," Howard said.
Groups asking for SGA funds typically meet only with the committee, which takes its decision and the group's constitution to the full senate. The full senate rarely meets with the groups directly, although Howard said this might be a special case.
Senator Matt Laidlaw voted against the funding eligibility in the full senate. Like Carr, he said he supported SSA's premise, but saw it as a religious group because a 1961 Supreme Court case defined humanism - one of SSA's major viewpoints - as a religion.
"I would have wanted to see a group like this on campus," Laidlaw said. But since it was religious, "we can't give money, no matter what we believe."
Reach reporter Sarah Paulus at Sarah.Paulus@usd.edu.
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