Plaque Lawsuit Against Colorado School Of Mines Dropped

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP/CBS4) — A graduate of a Colorado university banned from putting Bible citations on a fundraising plaque is dropping a federal lawsuit against the school.

Lawyers for Mike Lucas filed documents to dismiss the free speech case against the Colorado School of Mines Friday. They say the school is ending the fundraising program for its athletic facility and has removed all donor plaques.

Lucas, a former Mines football player, donated $2,500 and wanted his plaque to read Colossians 3:23 and Micah 5:9. The school agreed to allow him to inscribe the verse from Micah, which didn't mention God, but not the citation.

The publicly-funded school has said allowing the citations would violate the separation of church and state.

Karen Gilbert, a spokeswoman for the Colorado School of Mines released this statement on Friday afternoon: "Mines never intended for the new locker room to be viewed as a public forum for individual expression, nor do we believe anyone could reasonably assert that a private locker room would be viewed as a public space. In an effort to remove the potential for further misunderstanding, Mines decided to cancel the original program and remove the plaques. A new program has been launched with new plaques featuring the donor's name or the names of others the donor wishes to recognize. Every original donor has transferred their gift to participate in the new program, including Mr. Lucas."

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