News

UWRCF gets new hearing

The Student Judiciary granted the University of Wisconsin Roman Catholic Foundation a completely new budget hearing Tuesday.

UWRCF will now have an opportunity to present a non-amended budget before the Student Council during its next meeting Feb. 1.

However, a UWRCF motion to prohibit Student Services Finance Committee members from sitting on the council during the UWRCF budget debate failed.

"There is an entire line of case law, where [SSFC] violated some sort of viewpoint-neutrality," Student Judiciary Chief Justice Nick Fox said during debate to justify granting UWRCF a new hearing. "A new hearing is perfectly in line with our case law."

The Student Judiciary decision is the latest development in a budget process that began last September.

SSFC originally made more than $58,000 in cuts to the UWRCF budget.

The Student Judiciary then reinstated many of the funds after it found SSFC members guilty of viewpoint-neutrality violations when making the budgetary decision.

The Student Council will now consider the original budget UWRCF presented to the SSFC at its meeting next week.

"I'm very doubtful of getting a fair hearing when a good percentage of the council is made of SSFC [members]," UWRCF representative Tim Krause said. "All we want is a fair trial."

Krause argued that because SSFC members had previously been found guilty of viewpoint-neutrality violations, they would retain their bias when debating and voting on the UWRCF budget.

As an example of SSFC bias, Krause claimed SSFC representative Zach Frey had spoken against UWRCF in a recent Capital Times article.

Frey, however, said the quote was taken out of context and that he is in support of UWRCF receiving some funding.

"For anybody to claim I have a malicious viewpoint against UWRCF is absurd," Frey said, adding he voted in favor of granting UWRCF funding at its eligibility hearing.

The Student Judiciary considered ordering an injunction against Frey specifically — rather than all SSFC members — from sitting on the Student Council. That decision, though, was tabled until the Judiciary's next meeting.

The Student Judiciary said it understood UWRCF's concerns; however, it wanted to ensure the rights of Associated Students of Madison representatives were protected.

"It is important that our first assumption be to trust the people in office will do their jobs," Associate Justice Tim Leonard said.

The next step in the process will be Feb. 1, when the UWRCF budget debate may finally come to a conclusion.