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The University of Wisconsin-Madison will have to pay nearly $500,000 in legal costs incurred by a Catholic student group that sued over the university's refusal to fund some of the group's activities.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision a year ago that UW-Madison's policy of turning down funding requests from student groups for student activities involving prayer, worship and proselytizing violates their First Amendment right to free speech. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the UW-Madison’s appeal of the ruling.

The case involved the 2007 request for student fee funding by Badger Catholic, then known as the Roman Catholic Foundation. Student government officials had approved a $253,000 allocation, but the university later rejected $35,000 of that because it had been earmarked for religious worship activities.

Badger Catholic filed suit, saying the denial violated its First Amendment right to free speech. The university argued that funding an organization that runs evangelical training camps and spiritual retreats amounted to an illegal endorsement of religion.

The university argued that awarding student fees to the group that runs evangelical training camps and hosts spiritual retreats violates the separation of church and state. But the judge and the appeals court say subsidizing the activities does not amount to an illegal endorsement of religion.

Badger Catholic, which was allocated about $120,000 in student fee funding last school year, offers spiritual advising, service projects, lectures and other activities, according to its website. The U.S. Supreme Court's denial allowed the group to begin offering some activities, including spiritual retreats, which had been on hold while the case made its way through the courts, according to organizers.

In a statement Friday, Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys, said the university should defend the free speech rights of religious students. "Sadly, the university refused to do so, and instead squandered money by trying to defend the indefensible: blatant, unlawful discrimination against Christian students and ministries."

A spokesman for the UW System said the legal fees total $496,500.