Student Council’s Student Judiciary ruled in favor of the student finance board after the Multicultural Student Coalition claimed they violated due process rights and viewpoint neutrality when denying MCSC eligibility for segregated fee funding.

The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee denied MCSC eligibility earlier this year because they did not meet criteria by having violated university policies within the last two years.

MCSC expressed concern and frustration that they would not be treated fairly by anybody on ASM, the decision said.

Student Judiciary was “genuinely aggrieved” that MCSC felt this way, Student Judiciary Chief Justice Nicholas Checker said.

“The person that wrote the decision was new to student judiciary, we’ve had a lot of turnover so I think that a lot of the concerns about some of the systematic bias, SJ finds itself above that,” Checker said. “We’re removed from the politics of ASM.”

MCSC claimed its due process rights were violated by a discrepancy in SSFC’s internal appeals process in the standing rules and bylaws, but in their decision SJ said this was not enough to violate due process.

MCSC also said the audio minutes from SSFC’s meeting were inaudible and was a due process violation, however the judiciary body’s decision said the minutes were clearly audible at many parts but there were parts that were difficult to hear but could “feasibly” be heard.

In the past, Student Judiciary has ruled committees need to keep as detailed records as possible, Checker said. The problem with the minutes was more of a procedural issue than due process, he said.

“It was just a human error for not having a microphone placed … intent was there to capture the minutes,” Checker said. “There was no malicious intent to make the audio minutes unavailable.”

MCSC also claimed SSFC violated viewpoint neutrality because they relied on the shared governance committee, the Committee of Student Organizations decision from 2012 that MCSC intentionally violated policy, Checker said. The SJ decision said it was reasonable for SSFC to rely on the CSO decision.

Student Judiciary ordered MCSC prepare a formal recommendation to ASM to amend its bylaws. The body also ordered SSFC ensure all speakers have a microphone in front of them and determine an alternate way to better record its meetings in the future.