Is it worth it?

The case of Saint Louis University v. Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis involves Tax Increment Financing ordinances.  To oversimplify (big-time), the City of St. Louis designated the area around SLU as a "redevelopment area" in order to make tax-increment financing available for some SLU-related redevelopment projects, including an arena.  A lawsuit followed (brought and funded, apparently, by a real-estate developer who stands to gain if the TIF ordinance is invalidated), raising (among other things) state and federal establishment-of-religion arguments.

Long story short:  SLU defends on the ground that, among other things (quoting SLU's brief in the MO Supreme Court):

Nowhere do the University’s bylaws state that it is or even should be controlled by the Catholic Church or by any other religion.  The Church’s lack of control over

Saint Louis

 

University

and its board are shown by the sale of its hospital to Tenet Healthcare in 1998.  The sale was made directly against the strong and well publicized objection of the Catholic Archbishop of

St. Louis

.  (Biondi Depo., Ex. Vol. V, at p. 24, ll. 1-11). . . .

Saint Louis

University

is not controlled by any religion or religious creed; rather, it is fully controlled by an independent corporate board.  It does not discriminate in either hiring or admissions based on religion (or any other classification impermissible under state or federal law).  It does not require its students or faculty members to attend confessions or masses.  It does not require Catholic catechism.  Rather, it operates in and supports a spirit of academic freedom and open inquiry -- even in instances when such freedom and inquiry runs contrary to the teachings of the Catholic religion. . . . 

By adopting as its primary corporate purposes the encouragement of learning and extension of the means of education, by dedicating itself “to the service of its immediate community,” and by committing itself to achieve these ends through means “appropriate to a university in our society, including teaching, research and the discovery, presentation and communication of knowledge,” the University has made clear that it is not controlled in carrying out its mission by a “creed” in the sense of a formalized system of religious beliefs.  Rather, the University has chosen to be a “university” as that term is used in twenty-first century America, marked by the academic freedom and independence of thought that are essential characteristics of universities in modern American life. . . .