The recent decision by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. to end recognition of its College Democrats Club is turning into a heated disputed over its tax-exempt status. Americans United for Separation of Church and State last week asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the university's action violates the rules for tax-exempt status. Now Liberty Counsel, representing the university, is asking the IRS to investigate D.C.-based Americans United for the same offense.
Americans United claims that by singling out the Democratic club and ending recognition and student funding for the club, the university engaged in political or partisan activity in violation of IRS rules. "If the university insists on pushing policies that favor Republicans over Democrats, it should have to surrender its tax exemption," said Rev. Barry Lynn, the group's executive director, in a statement.
Spokesman Joe Conn explained that a private university "can do almost anything it wants" in terms of favoring one viewpoint over another, "but it can't be partisan" in the political sense of favoring one party or candidate over another. The group often sends similar letters to the IRS during presidential elections when churches take political stands or endorse candidates.
The university is firing back by questioning Americans United's own tax status. "AU has essentially become an arm of the Democratic Party,"wrote Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel and dean of the university's law school. Staver told the IRS that Americans United is itself partisan because it objects mainly when churches support Republican candidates.
Staver also claimed that Liberty University was not violating the tax code when it dropped endorsement of the College Democrats. The action had "had nothing to do with the political nature of the club" but instead was meant to enforce a broader policy against lending the university's name to clubs that "support abortion or same-sex marriage." Staver also said the Democratic club may still meet on campus.
American United's Conn said his organization is "not quaking in our boots" about losing tax-exempt status. "We are very rigorously non-partisan," he added, noting in that in recent months the organization has criticized the Obama Administration for its faith-based initiative.
Conn said Liberty University chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. is following in the footsteps of his father, the famed preacher Jerry Falwell. In 1993, the late Falwell paid fines to the IRS for partisan activity in his "Old Time Gospel Hour" program.
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