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I believe tsomer is speaking of "Student Activity Fees" which are ordinarily mandatory, and which ar paid out to chartered (recognized) student groups.

I don't know if you can "opt out" of Student Activity Fees, whether or not you participate in one of those chartered student group.

Anybody know?

"I believe tsomer is speaking of "Student Activity Fees" which are ordinarily mandatory, and which ar paid out to chartered (recognized) student groups."

OK, now I understand tsomer's point. That makes sense.

As for opting out, it probably depends entirely on the university. I have three in college now, and I looked at their latest registrations. They are described in varying ways - student fees, student union dues, etc - but they all seem pretty mandatory.

The majority opinion specifically answered your question on page 29 of the PDF file in a footnote (the case reference is Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000)) ...

“In Southworth, university students challenged a mandatory student-activity fee used to fund student groups. Finding the political and ideological speech of certain groups offensive, the student-challengers argued that imposition of the fee violated their First Amendment rights. 529 U.S., at 221. This Court upheld the university’s choice to subsidize groups whose expression some students found distasteful, but we admonished that the university could not “prefer some viewpoints to others” in the distribution of funds. Id., at 233. We cautioned that the university’s referendum process, which allowed students to vote on whether a student organization would receive financial support, risked violation of this principle by allowing students to select groups to fund based on their viewpoints. Id., at 235. In this case, in contrast, the all-comers policy governs all RSOs; Hastings does not pick and choose which organizations must comply with he policy of the basis of viewpoint. App. 221. Southworth accordingly provides no support for the dissent’s warped analysis.”

So, in short, no. You can’t opt out of mandatory student activity fees even if you find some of the groups offensive. You can, however, sue if you aren’t subject to the same rules as everyone else.

Yes, that’s what I was talking about.

It seems there may have been some action on that front way back when, but I don’t recall. Perhaps it was just discussion, with nothing further done.

Thanks for clarifying.