Friends of the Riverfront

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis owns the DeLaSalle High School property The proposal by DeLaSalle High School, a private, religious institution, to build a football stadium on public parkland and over a public street is in conflict with the state and federal constitutions. Article XIII, Sec. 2 of the Minnesota Constitution reads: "PROHIBITION AS TO AIDING SECTARIAN SCHOOL. In no case shall any public money or property be appropriated or used for the support of schools wherein the distinctive doctrines, creeds or tenets of any particular Christian or other religious sect are promulgated or taught."

In this video, Patrick Scully reads the Minnesota Constitution
to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Feb. 1, 2006)

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) on March 1, 2006 voted 6-3 to approve a Reciprocal Use Agreement with DeLaSalle High School, allowing the private, religious school to build an athletic stadium on park board land. The American Civil Liberties Union called the reciprocal use agreement "uniquely unconstitutional" in a Feb. 24, 2006 letter to the state attorney general. "The agreement's requirement that MPRB hand this land over for DeLaSalle use," the ACLU wrote, "... is an overt form of aid to a sectarian institution and in conflict with the principles set forth in the Minnesota Constitution."

Attorneys for the Friends of the Riverfront, in another Feb. 24, 2006 letter to the state attorney general, showed in detail how the Reciprocal Use Agreement that would allow DeLaSalle, a private, religious school, to build an athletic stadium on public park land, is unconstitutional.

The state attorney general, in a Feb. 28, 2006 opinion, failed to find the reciprocal use agreement in violation of the Minnesota Constitution, but acknowledged that facts are in dispute, and told Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Attorney Brian Rice: "If the relevant facts are other than as represented in your letter, the opinion expressed herein is subject to change."

The stadium plan also appears to have the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on the ropes. Under the Reciprocal Use Agreement, use of the facility would be controlled by "a Joint Programming Board consisting of an equal number of representatives appointed by the MPRB Superintendent and the President of DeLaSalle." With control of half the votes, DeLaSalle, a private, Catholic institution, would have veto power over how this facility on public land is used, and by whom.