Anti-abortion protest at Northeastern using mandatory student funds

If your organization is 501(c)3 and tax exempt, it can't do political advocacy. Political orgs are 501(c)4.

Perhaps a similar classification system could better serve Northeastern. If it wouldn't qualify as 501(c)3 outside of unispace, it doesn't get mandated funding.

Poppycock.

Northeastern provides recognition to any number of groups with far stronger ties to national organizations. Like every other university in the country, it has College Democrats and College Republicans. It has a variety of religious groups, all of which are required to have affiliations with sponsoring religious bodies. All it takes to become recognized at Northeastern is twelve students, and the approval of the appropriate office related to the purpose of the group. I can't speak to the PRSSA - but I can say that most universities will block funding for groups that appear to be controlled by off-campus entities, rather than by the students themselves.

The 501(c)(3) example is likewise a red herring. (And for tax purposes, an in-kind sponsorship such as the donation of the use of space on campus would be no different than a direct allocation of funds.) As the presence of, say, the College Democrats suggests, the courts have repeatedly ruled that students possess free speech rights as citizens. The entire point of charging the student activities fee as a separate levy is to separate the sponsorship of these activities from the core mission of the university. If the university were to allocate funds from tuition, endowments, or general revenues to partisan groups, it would raise a host of red flags. Similarly, if it were to exercise its authority to recognize or sponsor such groups on a basis tied to their beliefs - allowing Democrats but not Republicans, pro-Choice but not pro-Life - it would place its tax exemption in peril. But it operates in a manner that is blind to the political content of this speech. If a group meets a set of predetermined criteria, it may obtain space and funds.

What's at issue at Northeastern is that one group is expressing unpopular views. I don't much like what they have to say. But they're well within their rights to say it, even if other students find their speech hateful or offensive.