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Columbia Union College v. Oliver

	Courtesy Columbia Union College A Seventh-day Adventist college challenged the state's denial of benefits.

The Columbia Union College case is one of CIR's greatest victories for freedom of religion. CUC, a small four-year college with about 600 students, had been denied a public grant by the state of Maryland because its Seventh-day Adventist composition made it "pervasively sectarian." Or, in plain English, CUC was too religious for the tastes of state bureaucrats.

While other private institutions, including numerous Catholic colleges, were granted about $1,070 annually for each Maryland student enrolled, Columbia Union was denied grants at four consecutive hearings.

CIR's Supreme Court victory in Rosenberger v. Virginia had previously established that religious student organizations cannot be denied funding merely because they are religious. CIR's aim in Columbia Union was to extend this holding to religious higher educational institutions.

	"THE FERMENT ON THE COURT. . . COINCIDES WITH A POLITICAL FERMENT OVER THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT, A COMBINATION THAT IS LIKELY TO KEEP THIS CASE IN A BRIGHT SPOTLIGHT UNTIL THE JUSTICES DECIDE IT." NEW YORK TIMES

In 1997 CIR helped Columbia Union take the case to a federal district court with direct action against Edward Oliver, a state official. The decisive moment in the case came on June 26, 2001 when the 4th Circuit Court upheld an earlier ruling that CUC was not pervasively sectarian and therefore eligible for state funds. Furthermore, the court said that being "prevasively sectarian" was not a sufficient reason for denying state funding to a college.

Read the CIR press release about CUC's victory

See the 4th Circuit's final decision (June 26, 2001) (PDF, 126K)

Selected articles

Fact sheet

Jeremy Rabkin. "Let Us Study (and Pray): State Aid to Religious Schools is Receiving a Real Hearing." American Spectator, December, 1998, pp. 82-83.

Alex Daniels. "Columbia Union: County’s Only Four Year College, An Enclave From Modern World." Montgomery Business Gazette, May 1998.

Dennis O’Brian. "Suit Seeking State Money for College Thrown Out." Baltimore Sun, 31 October 1997.

Jon Jeter. "Maryland Again Denies Aid to College." Washington Post, 14 December 1996.

"Panel Rejects College’s Bid for State Subsidy." Baltimore Sun, 12 December 1996.

David Folkenflik. "Adventist School Sues State, Alleging Bias in Denial of Subsidy." Baltimore Sun, 14 June 1996.

Selected legal documents

CIR's brief before the 4th Circuit (December 27, 2000)

Justice Clarence Thomas' Dissenting Opinion in Supreme Court's Denial of Certiorari

CIR's reply to brief in opposition (May 18, 1999)

Defendants' brief in opposition to petition for Writ of Certiorari (May 10, 1999)

CIR's petition for Certiorari (March 19, 1999)

Fourth Circuit decision reversing earlier ruling against CUC (November 5, 1998)

CIR's brief before the 4th Circuit (February 12, 1998)

District Court decision (October 28, 1997)

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