Friday, May 29, 2009
Editorial: Tax-exempt status at risk?
Liberty University may have crossed a line with college Democrats.
From the RoundTable blog
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Liberty University officials say that members of a Democratic club stripped of official recognition by the university have overstated the university's actions and lied about the rationale.
"The university has not banned Democrats from campus. Nor has the Democrat club been banned from meeting. And never have I said that a person cannot be a Christian and a Democrat," Jerry Falwell Jr., chancellor of the university, wrote in a commentary published on the university's Web site.
That may be true. And, as we said in a short editorial last week, Liberty University is a private university and may refuse to recognize Democratic clubs if it wishes.
But in that editorial we didn't address another issue: Liberty University's tax-exempt status.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State make a good argument that, by officially recognizing a Republican club while stripping a Democratic club of that recognition and the potential for funding from student fees that accompany it, Liberty should have to give up that status.
"As a tax-exempt institution, Liberty is barred from intervening in elections or showing preference for one political party over another," wrote Barry Lynn, executive director of the group.
The Internal Revenue Service should investigate this situation to determine whether Liberty University's actions warrant stripping it of its tax-exempt status.
As a private institution, Liberty can grind a partisan ax. As a tax-exempt institution, however, it may not.
