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Student Judiciary to release precedent-setting ruling

The University of Wisconsin Student Judiciary is scheduled to release a ruling today that will set precedent for the future of the university.

The pending decision is the first of its kind at UW and regards a funding policy referred to as "contract status." Student organizations with contract status receive student-segregated fees from SSFC to fund full-time staff.

The UW Roman Catholic Foundation filed a complaint against the Student Services Finance Committee requesting that the committee's decision to deny UWRCF contract status be reversed.

SSFC Chair Zach Frey said he has no inkling as to what the ruling of the case will be but said it will be an important one.

"It is the first one; I think it will be significant no matter what [the decision] is," Frey said.

If SJ rules in favor of SSFC, Frey said, UWRCF would not receive contract status and the foundation's budget would be sent to the Student Council for approval as it stands — without funding for full-time staff.

According to Frey, all the budgets SSFC approved this semester will be sent to the Student Council by Thursday.

According to SJ Chief Justice Josh Tyack, contract status has existed at UW for a long time but only recently has been at the discretion of SSFC. Previously, Tyack said, the university offered groups contract status on a case-by-case basis.

Due to this, all the policies and regulations regarding contract status are fairly new.

UWRCF spokesperson Tim Kruse did not return phone calls requesting comment as of press time.

This case was difficult to deliberate, Tyack said, because there is no case law to reference.

"There's many cases dealing with eligibility determinations; there are many cases dealing with viewpoint neutrality; [but] this is our first case in dealing with something like [contract status], so that is the big difference."

Viewpoint neutrality plays a part in this particular case as well because UWRCF accused SSFC members of violating viewpoint-neutrality policy when the committee voted against the foundation receiving contract status.

However, UW Chancellor John Wiley said in an interview with The Badger Herald that "viewpoint-neutral" is an ill-defined term, and the ambiguity of the term and its implications are "largely responsible" for much of the controversy.