Cite as: 529 U. S. 217 (2000)
Souter, J., concurring in judgment
ernment program that aims to broaden public discourse. As I noted in Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U. S. 819, 873-874, and n. 3, 889-891 (1995) (dissenting opinion), the university fee at issue is a tax.7 The state university compels it; it is paid into state accounts; and it is disbursed under the ultimate authority of the State. Wis. Stat. § 36.09(5) (1993-1994); App. 9, 18-19. Although the facts here may not fit neatly under our holdings on government speech (and the University has expressly renounced any such claim),8 ante, at 229, our cases do suggest that under the First Amendment the government may properly use its tax revenue to promote general discourse.9 In Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1 (1976) (per curiam), we rejected a challenge to a congressional program providing viewpoint neutral subsidies to all Presidential candidates based in part on this reasoning:
"[The program] is a congressional effort, not to abridge, restrict, or censor speech, but rather to use public money to facilitate and enlarge public discussion and participation in the electoral process, goals vital to a self-governing people. Thus, [the program] furthers, not abridges, pertinent First Amendment values." Id., at 92-93 (footnotes omitted).
7 True, one does not have to go to college, but one does not have to own real estate or receive a dividend.
8 Unlike the majority, I would not hold that the mere fact that the University disclaims speech as its own expression takes it out of the scope of our jurisprudence on government directed speech. We have never generally questioned a university's "spacious discretion" to allocate public funds. See Rosenberger, supra, at 892 (Souter, J., dissenting) (citing Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U. S. 173 (1991), and Regan v. Taxation With Representation of Wash., 461 U. S. 540 (1983)).
9 Of course, I believe that even a government program that promotes a broad range of expression is subject to the specific prohibition on government funding to promote religion, imposed by the Establishment Clause. See Rosenberger, supra, at 882 (Souter, J., dissenting).
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