"Consider the possibility that the officials are on the ACLU side, and deliberately "took a dive" in the suit, to accomplish via the courts something they could not accomplish otherwise"
Not likely... the officials were the one's who wouldn't let the club meet on campus in the first place. More likely that they didn't want the expense of the court case that they knew they'd lose.
Actually such "friendly" suits are not unheard of in school circles. Publicly they have to prohibit the club, so they call their lawyer friend who has ties to the ACLU an lets them in on the situation.
The politicial then does his/her cassablanca "Shocked, shocked I say.." routine and does what they want in the name of saving on legal fees.