UW Chancellor John Wiley will hear the proposal to renovate Memorial Union and rebuild Union South.
The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary dismissed a complaint Monday that would overturn the passing of the Student Union Initiative, and petitioners said it is unlikely they will appeal the decision.
The complaint, filed by Patrick Elliott and other student petitioners, sought to reject the results of the Fall 2006 ASM elections in which students approved the proposal to renovate Memorial Union and rebuild Union South with 65 percent of the vote.
The SJ's unanimous decision stated that the complaint was based upon arguments outside of the court's jurisdiction.
The complaint alleged that the SUI campaign may have misled students into thinking the referendum was binding. UW-Madison sophomore David Lapidus, co-petitioner, said fewer students would have voted in favor of the referendum if they knew it was only advisory.
""Recommendations can be warped and changed by people who they have no power over,"" Lapidus said. ""Students thought they were voting on something that they would actually have tremendous say over, but in reality, that isn't the case.""
The Judiciary's decision stated that the wording of the referendum was clear in asking students whether they ""support the ... plan proposal and the segregated fee increase to help fund it.""
Sheyna Hetzel, Union president, believes that referendums by nature are meant to sound final because the hope is that the chancellor and the UW System Board of Regents accept them without alterations.
Elliott also said the perception that the referendum was binding limits ""alternative ideas"" from being proposed by students.
""If they know that they can advise, there's much more of an opportunity to propose alternative plans,"" Elliott said.
He said the most effective action at this point may be to organize students to petition the chancellor and the Board of Regents to reconsider the proposal.
The complaint also alleged that the SUI referendum denies future students the ability to determine spending of segregated fees, as fees could accumulate to $200 per year for 30 years.
""If five or six years from now, students want the project to be cancelled, they should be able to do so,"" Lapidus said.
Hetzel said she does not believe the results would have been different had the wording of the referendum been altered.
The SUI follows the precedent of other, currently uncompleted campus construction projects students are funding, Hetzel explained.
