EAU CLAIRE, WI (WSAU) Two UW-Eau Claire students are suing the school to get class credit for the volunteer work they did at a local Catholic church.
The school requires all students to volunteer for 30-hours in order to graduate. Students can volunteer for faith based charities. The lawsuit says UW-Eau Claire unfairly bans volunteering at churches directly. The students are suing over that restriction.
The students, Alexandra Liebl and Madelyn Rysavy, want time they spent teaching Sunday school classes at Newman Parish to count towards their volunteerism requirement. The school says students cannot “promote religious doctrine” as part of their school requirement. The lawsuit claims that other students have also had church-based volunteer activities denied by the school’s Center for Service-Learning. Another student was denied volunteer-credit for singing as a soloist for a church choir.
The university has not commented specifically on the lawsuit.
The Alliance Defending Freedom from Lawrenceville, Georgia is representing the students. They argue that the distinction between religious-themed charities and church groups is a violation of students’ religious freedoms.
The MetroSource news wire contributed to this report.
