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by Carl Jaeger
Thursday, March 8, 2007
A Student Judiciary board ruled Wednesday that two Associated Students of Madison representatives did not violate viewpoint neutrality and due process regulations after making contested cuts to a student organization's proposed travel grant.
After the ASM Student Council cut a proposed travel grant from the Wisconsin Law School's Black Law Student Association from $3,700 to $600 Feb. 14 — just one day after the ASM Finance Committee approved the $3,700 grant — the organization sued council representatives Zach Frey and Steve Lawrence, claiming the representatives had violated ASM bylaws.
On Wednesday, the ASM Student Judiciary ruled in favor of the representatives in a narrow 2-1 decision, according to the judiciary's formal judgment.
Student Judiciary Chief Justice Josh Tyack said the reduction was made due to budgetary reasons, and the purpose was to grant more students access to the funds.
"Student Council [took] into account the amount of money they were supposed to give out over an entire year," Tyack said. "Looking at the benefits of this specific travel, based on the costs of this specific travel, they felt $600 was more in line."
The Black Law Student Association planned on using the travel grant to help fund their trip to the National BLSA Conference in Atlanta later this month.
Students will now depend on more personal funds to attend the conference, as well as request funds from the UW Law School, according to BLSA treasurer Jason Wilson.
Wilson added that the entire process was handled in a "very unprofessional manner" and said that the decisions made were not clearly "spelled out."
"Everyone needs to have equal access, and people shouldn't use their power to take advantage of others," Wilson said.
Wilson also questioned the manner in which the hearing was held.
"We have several reasons we feel there was a viewpoint violation," Wilson said. "Overall, we feel that there is just a lack of organization."
Tyack recognized that BLSA "obviously [has] reasons to have grievances" about the hearing, but he added he believes the court's hearing was very professional.
"I have no doubt that it's the right thing to do based on the laws of ASM," Tyack said.
Frey said that the case brought up some key issues that could improve ASM's bylaws in the future, but added he still believed that BLSA got a fair hearing.
"I don't think that myself, Justice Lawrence or the Student Council did anything wrong," Frey said. "I totally agree with SJ's decision."
Frey added that there are "hundreds" of student organizations on campus who want funding to attend conferences. However, the decision was made to "benefit as many students and as many student organizations possible with limited resources."
BLSA member Brandon Vaughn said he was also "disappointed" with the Student Judiciary decision.
Though he recognized that ASM Student Council has granted other cultural organizations funding in the past, Vaughn questioned if the group's ethnic association affected the decision.
"The BLSA organization is very strong at the UW, and we're disappointed that the Student Council hasn't taken that step to diversity," Vaughn said. "In a world of subtle … inequality, it can be kind of puzzling."
Anonymous (March 8, 2007 @ 4:30am):
There goes ASM again. It makes sense to defund certain programs, but the BLSA is pretty much the only one of its kind in Madison and maybe the state. I think it's inappropriate given the inequalities at UW to slash their funding. Thanks Lapidus.
Anonymous (March 8, 2007 @ 8:36am):
Justice Lawrence?? Hold on now...
Anonymous (March 8, 2007 @ 9:00am):
keep playing that race card...it usually trumps all reason...
Anonymous (March 8, 2007 @ 9:21am):
Option 1: Fund BLSA with the largest travel grant EVER given out by ASM by giving out all of the money for the rest of the year leaving no money left for other groups.
Option 2: Fund BLSA partially and fund some of the other 20 groups that also applied for money.
While it would be nice to fund BLSA the full $7,000 they were asking for, there is only $36,000 for the entire year which goes to fund ~100 groups. The decision was based entirely on the criteria for travel grants and the budget contraints.
So when BLSA loses the case Vaugn has to allege discrimination? What a joke.
Anonymous (March 8, 2007 @ 4:20pm):
the finance committee knew the grant would zero fund travel, however they still funded it anyway... maybe they saw some merit, that Frey and Council didn't take the chance to look for
even given the argument that they were looking out for budget constraints for travel why was BLSA's proposal from MCSC also subsequently cut by SSFC (chaired by Frey who was accused of viewpoint neutrality)
MCSC saw the grant and thought it was full of merit too. They also have a lot more funds than finance does.
but, even better why was Frey allowed to chair an SSFC meeting dealing with an organization that was suing him and that standed to be harmed by his decision.
...something isn't right, and it may not be associated with race, but problems with the power structure with ASM. BLSA clearly delivered its message to finance committee and MCSC and was awarded substantial funds
Nevertheless ASM oversight who didn't conduct the nearly as diligent as hearings as finance and MCSC decided that BLSA couldn't get the funds. The structure of ASM needs to be changed to prevent such abuse of power
Anonymous (March 12, 2007 @ 10:13am):
The past few years, students from the University have gone to New Orleans to do HURRICANE RELIEF and had to pay their own way, why can't these students do the same?
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