Rounds

In this appeal, we consider whether the University of Oregon violated the plaintiffs’ free speech and associational rights by requiring them, as a condition of matriculation, to pay incidental fees that contributed to the support of the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. We hold that the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights were not violated, and affirm the judgment of the district court.

*1034 I

This lawsuit targets the funding of the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (the “OSPIRG EF”) through incidental, fees (the “Fees”) that students must pay to matriculate. The Fees are paid into a general fund that is then distributed to student programs following a detailed budgetary review process. The plaintiffs, including former or current students at the Eugene campus of the University of Oregon (the “University”), and Students for Legal Government, an unincorporated association of University students, (collectively, the “Students”), instituted this action to enjoin the University from allocating funds from the Fees to the OSPIRG EF, to obtain a declaratory judgment holding that this use of the Fees is unconstitutional and illegal,…