The Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow claimed the student government made it difficult to return its equipment on time and denied the organization funding out of contempt for the group at a Student Judiciary hearing on Friday night.
CFACT, a national non-profit organization that advocates environmental activism, was denied funding by the Student Services Finance Committee in late September for failing to return equipment owned by the Associated Students of Madison on time.
CFACT appealed SSFC’s decision to the Student Judiciary, claiming that ASM made it impossible for CFACT to comply with its equipment policy.
The group’s president, Joshua Smith, said ASM did not know which equipment belonged to it or CFACT, creating confusion for CFACT and making it difficult for the group to return all the equipment on time.
SSFC Legal Council Tyler Junger said it is the responsibility of groups to maintain their own inventory lists and track items.
Smith also argued SSFC had made a non-viewpoint neutral decision in denying the group funding.
He provided the court with a letter from SSFC that informed the group of its violation as evidence, stating it expressed contempt for the group.
Junger said he could not identify a single example of a non-viewpoint neutral statement made in the letter.
He added the decision to deny the group funding was not based on an opinion of the group, but on the clear fact that CFACT was found in violation of an ASM policy.
“CFACT intentionally violated ASM policy and, for that reason, they were denied funding,” Junger said.
SSFC Chair Matt Manes said groups are made well aware that they are responsible for maintaining inventory lists for the items.
“This was their responsibility from the beginning,” Manes said. “The only confusion arrived from the fact that they didn’t do what they were supposed to be doing.”
Manes said all the items that were truly outstanding appeared on the initial inventory list created by ASM for CFACT.
He added a few items on that list were later found to not be returnable.
The Student Judiciary has until Nov. 19 to deliver a decision on the case.
