Linnemeier v. Indiana University-Purdue
| Decision Date | 20 July 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:01-CV-0266.,1:01-CV-0266. |
| Citation | 155 F.Supp.2d 1034 |
| Parties | Dan LINNEMEIER, et al Plaintiffs, v. INDIANA UNIVERSITY—PURDUE UNIVERSITY FORT WAYNE, et al Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana |
John R. Price, Bruce A. Stuard, John R. Price and Associates, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiffs.
Anthony S. Benton, Stephen R. Pennell, Barry L. Loftus, Stuart and Branigin, Lafayette, IN, for Defendants.
Kenneth J. Falk, Sean C. Lemieux, Indianapolis, IN, for Intervenor Defendant.
This cause is before the court upon the Plaintiffs' Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed on July 5, 2001. On July 17, 2001, the court heard evidence and argument on the Plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction. After considering this evidence in addition to reviewing the briefs and arguments of counsel, the court now enters it ruling on the Plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction. Entered simultaneously herewith are the court's rulings on the Defendants' motions to dismiss. For the following reasons, the Plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction will be DENIED.
A group of Plaintiffs, originally including eleven residents and taxpayers of the state of Indiana and twenty-one members of the Indiana General Assembly (hereafter, "the Plaintiffs"), filed suit against the Defendants, Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne ("IPFW") and ten members of the Board of Trustees of Purdue University ("the Board") (collectively, "the Defendants") pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that the Defendants will violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution if they are not enjoined from presenting playwright Terrence McNally's play Corpus Christi (hereafter "the Play") on August 10, 2001 at the Studio Theater located in Kettler Hall on IPFW's campus. In an Order entered contemporaneously with this one, the undersigned dismissed the members of the Indiana General Assembly and various individual plaintiffs because they lacked standing to assert an Establishment Clause violation. In addition, the court dismissed IPFW because it was not a corporate entity subject to be sued under Indiana law. Finally, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the Plaintiffs' claim of an Indiana constitutional violation. There remain three plaintiffs of the original thirty-two and a single legal claim asserting an Establishment Clause violation. It is to this claim the court turns its attention in the instant order.
The Plaintiffs seek to enjoin the Play from going forward because they believe the Play is an "undisguised attack on Christianity and the Founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ," and thus, the performance of the Play in a publicly funded taxpayer owned, educational facility such as IPFW violates the separation between church and state as required by the Establishment Clause.1 The Complaint sets forth four and a half pages of alleged hostile references to Christianity and affidavits from several of the Plaintiffs in which they articulate their religious objections to the Play and their belief that the Play attacks basic tenets of Christian belief.
The Play's protagonist is a Christ-like figure named Joshua. Joshua is a young gay man from South Texas, who is surrounded by his disciples, a group of twelve gay men. Each disciple takes the name of one of the historical disciples of Christ in the New Testament of the Bible. The Play includes scenes where Joshua engages in homosexual relations with the disciples and portrays the Last Supper as a food fight.2
Jonathan Gilbert ("Gilbert")is a senior at IPFW majoring in theater with an emphasis in directing.3 As part of his course work, he is enrolled in a course numbered THTR 499 bearing the description "Senior Performance Project." (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 9). According to IPFW's catalog description (Defendant's Exhibit A). For his senior project, Gilbert selected the Play with permission from IPFW faculty and plans (unless enjoined from doing so) to direct its performance at the IPFW Studio Theater.4
Larry Life ("Life") is employed by IPFW as a full professor of theater and Chair/Artistic Director of the Department of Theater. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 7). In his capacity as Chair/Artistic Director, Life is responsible for supervising all activities in the Department. (Id.). Life testified that a student enrolled in THTR 499 must complete a "Senior Project Proposal Cover Sheet" which inquires of the student the reasons for selecting a particular project and how that student is prepared to undertake the project. This form is then submitted to a board of five Theater Department faculty members, which includes Life, for their review. According to Life, in approving a work proposed by students enrolled in THTR 499, the Theater Department relies on the neutral criteria provided by the student on the form and does not evaluate the viewpoint of the proposed work. Life further testified that the Department has never evaluated the viewpoint of a work proposed by a student as part of the THTR 499 course requirement and the Department remains "viewpoint neutral" as to all theater productions.
Life has worked actively with Gilbert in the production of the Play, consulting with him after a rehearsal and, at other times, regarding the technical and dramatic aspects of the direction of the Play. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 16). Life testified that this aid is essentially "volunteer work" in that he is not required under his contract with IPFW to advise students in the summer months. Life intends to attend each rehearsal of the Play and "make suggestions" to Gilbert as to the presentation of the Play and the technical and dramatic aspects of the direction of the Play. (Id.)
Eleven of the thirteen actors in Corpus Christi are students who voluntarily auditioned for the Play. The remaining two actors are volunteers from the Fort Wayne community. Other students have volunteered to serve as lighting, set and costume designers, stage hands and ushers. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 8). In addition, Gilbert has raised $3,000 to pay for certain costs of the Play including scripts, royalties, costumes, and props. Private donors have also provided money for two County Police officers to provide security during the six performances of the Play. The remainder of the security will be provided by IPFW through its operating budget. IPFW has invited the public to purchase tickets and attend the Play by way of a season brochure authorized and distributed by IPFW. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 19). This brochure was funded by non-taxpayer university funds.
Corpus Christi is one of nine plays that IPFW plans to stage during the 2001-2002 theater season. The others include: Bye Bye Birdie, by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; The Rivals, by Richard Sheridan; Atlas's Cigar, by Betsy Breitenbach; Protest, by Vaclav Havel; Harvey, by Mary Chase; Picasso at the Lapine Agile, by Steve Martin; The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler, On the Town, by Leonard Bernstein; and Tennessee Williams: The Foolish Dreamer, devised by Larry Life. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 11). All of these plays were chosen without regard to their viewpoint.
Aside from its general theater season, IPFW also permits outside groups to utilize the Studio Theater so long as their use complies with the educational mission of the school. To date, only one outside group has utilized the Studio Theater, a group of high school students from the drama department at North Side High School in Fort Wayne. Life testified that the students were permitted to utilize Studio Theater without regard to the viewpoint of their drama presentation. He further testified that any group that desires to use Studio Theater would be permitted to do so without regard to the viewpoint of the group's presentation. IPFW Chancellor Michael Wartell ("Wartell"), likewise testified that the Studio Theater was open to outside groups without regard to the content of the speech which would occur there.5
The plays presented at IPFW are chosen without the intervention of Wartell. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 22). Wartell did not read the script of the Play and did not interfere with the decision of the Theater Department to stage the Play as an academic offering. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 23). Wartell testified that if a play "is brought up through the theater department in standard form" he would not stop it, no matter its content, unless the content was illegal. (Joint Stipulation, ¶ 25). According to Wartell, this is because there is "a general university policy, universities around the world actually, of academic freedom where administrators do not interfere with either how or what subject matter is taught in the classroom."
As a result of the controversy surrounding the Play, IPFW has taken affirmative steps to convey to the community the lack of university sponsorship of the Play. The playbill for the production will contain the following disclaimer: IPFW has also taken steps to permit organizations objecting to the viewpoint of the Play to make that objection known by passing out informational letters to those attending the Play. (Defendants' Exhibit D). Finally, IPFW has agreed to sponsor a public forum permitting open discussion of all viewpoints occasioned by the Play in the middle of the scheduled performance week.
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H.S. v. Huntington County Community School Corp., 1:08 CV 271.
...F.2d at 127 (quoting Lynch, 465 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 1355 (O'Connor, J., concurring)); see also Linnemeier v. Ind. Univ.-Purdue Univ. Fort Wayne, 155 F.Supp.2d 1034, 1042 n. 8 (N.D.Ind.2001) ("The law requires the court to go beyond the particularized perceptions of individuals and inquir......