Claiming the Student Services Finance Committee violated viewpoint-neutrality laws when it cut their organization's proposed budget last month, representatives from the University of Wisconsin Roman Catholic Foundation presented their case to the Student Judiciary Saturday.
According to UWRCF representatives, SSFC held their organization to a different and higher standard because of the foundation's religious orientation.
"The UW segregated fee policy has been applied to the UWRCF in violation of our First Amendment rights and the ASM constitution," UWRCF Representative Tim Krause said. "The SSFC applied standards to the UWRCF that were applied to no other group."
Krause presented evidence that he said indicated the cuts to the foundation's funding request were done solely because of religious discrimination. The cuts included funding for rent and utilities, salaries for student event coordinators, and certain publishing needs, which Krause said were not made to other organizations' budget proposals.
Citing the finalized results of SSFC's budget decisions this year, Krause said 10 other organizations received funding for rent and utilities, and only UWRCF's request was zero-funded.
SSFC had previously been given a memo from UW legal services saying the committee could not grant funding to organizations headquartered in off-campus buildings not leased by the university, a criterion that was applicable to UWRCF.
However, Krause said that the "infamous memo" was applied only to UWRCF, and "appeared" before SSFC was deciding on the foundation's budget.
"Other organizations were never asked about rent," Krause said. "I called every other organization [that received funding for rent from SSFC], and only two had a lease through the university, but every one had their utilities and rent covered [by SSFC funding]."
SSFC Chair Rachelle Stone stood by her committee's decision, and she said every organization was given equal treatment.
"UWRCF isn't scrutinized any more than other organizations," Stone said. "Almost every organization's budget is cut."
Stone added committee members had to abide by the criteria given to them by the UW legal services, as they are required to follow the policies of the university administration.
"The memo from Bascom, from legal services — that is what we have to go by," Stone said.
Krause blamed part of the problem on the university administration, saying the timing of the memo's release to SSFC was a "direct" and "deliberate" attack on UWRCF.
"Why did this memo suddenly appear at our hearing?" Krause asked. "Look at when it was released, why wasn't SSFC given this information at the beginning of the year?"
Stone said the memo had been given to them "a week or two" prior to the budget decision, but Krause presented audio evidence from the meeting that indicated many representatives were unaware of it until they were given the memo at the meeting.
Student Judiciary representatives also questioned why SSFC only made the cut to rent and utilities to UWRCF's budget.
"If the committee felt the memo said organizations cannot receive money for rent and utilities, why was it applied to only UWRCF and not others?" one representative asked.
Student judiciary representatives said a decision would be made within the next five days.
