A Student Judiciary decision released Thursday upheld the denial of a multicultural student organization’s funding eligibility, dismissing charges against a branch of student government.

In the complaint, the Multicultural Student Coalition contended the Student Services Finance Committee violated viewpoint neutrality by shifting the necessary criteria to be eligible for segregated fee funding.

Additionally, MCSC questioned whether SSFC was a co-equal branch of student government and charged committee members with misconduct.

All three counts were dismissed by the student court.

SSFC Chair Sarah Neibart stood behind her committee in an interview with The Badger Herald regarding the most recent SJ decision, stating she was confident of SSFC’s processes.

“I think that our processes were defended, and the way in which we have gone about deciding what is direct service versus what isn’t for the past couple of years was even further affirmed,” Neibart said. “I was confident after the hearing that we would be ruled in favor of.”

SJ denied MCSC’s first count in the decision, stating SSFC acted within its allowance of discretion when determining eligibility and that Rep. Cale Plamann used a viewpoint neutral methodology when creating a spreadsheet used in deciding this eligibility.

“The Panel finds that SSFC acted within the circumscribed allowance of discretion in evaluating MCSC’s eligibility request,” the decision said. “MCSC’s contention that Representative Plamann’s ‘pro-rating’ spreadsheet was capricious ignores the degree of discretion he and all members possess.”

The second count stating MCSC’s application was not reviewed fully due to individual members’ biases was also dismissed in the decision.

One reason was that MCSC was given time to discuss their organization and direct services in an initial presentation and question-answer session and that several SSFC members accepted lobbying requests from the group.

“Given this concerted effort by SSFC members to ascertain a thorough understanding of the organization, it is apparent each voting member felt they possessed sufficient information to make an informed determination,” the decision said.

The court decision also affirmed SSFC’s autonomy, stating the body is equal to the Associated Students of Madison and not under it, dismissing MCSC’s third count.

SJ itself acts as a check on the committee, the decision said, as court processes are meant to provide a means to safeguard groups wronged by viewpoint neutrality or procedural violations.

The decision comes on the heels of a battle surrounding both SSFC and MCSC that began earlier this semester when a waiver form was introduced for student organizations intending to apply for a budget exceeding $250,000.

After turning in the form late due to confusion over the deadline, MCSC had to lower their original $1.27 million budget to $250,000.

MCSC appealed the waiver form to SJ in a prior case this semester, where SJ ruled the waiver invalid due to its timeline – but also upheld MCSC’s ineligibility for a budget above $250,000 since the form was submitted late.

Funding eligibility for the group was later denied in a meeting where committee members deliberated over whether enough time was spent on direct services as to fulfill criteria and whether these services were comparable to others found around campus.

One MCSC leader declined to comment. Two other leaders did not respond to emails from The Badger Herald.

–Campus Reporter Katie Caron contributed to this report.