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."