The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary declared Friday the ASM Student Services Finance Committee misapplied bylaw criteria when it denied the Roman Catholic Foundation-UW-Madison funding last month.
The current ruling could mean groups that had previously been denied funding by SSFC would have another chance to receive funding through a correct interpretation of the bylaw.
RCF-UW filed a complaint against SSFC last week, claiming SSFC applied vague and phantom eligibility criteria"" when denying them funds.
According to the complaint by RCF-UW, the organization was told it did not have ""Significant Additional Components"" required to receive funding.
Members of RCF-UW argued the SAC phrase offered no guidance with regards to funding requirements and was ""unconstitutionally vague.""
This is the third time this semester a complaint has been made regarding the validity of SAC, according to a Student Judiciary judgment.
""Anybody that thinks that bylaw is clear is not thinking clearly themselves,"" said Tom Kruse, a RCF-UW spokesperson. ""This is the epitome of vague criteria.""
According to Vice Chief Justice Shaun Hernandez, the Student Judiciary declared SSFC did not apply the basic framework needed to determine a reasonable interpretation of the text and misapplied bylaw criteria when denying funding for RCF-UW.
The court also suggested revising the current bylaw and that all groups previously denied eligibility for funding due to the absence of SAC be granted a new forum in which to restate their claims.
SSFC Chair Alex Gallagher said vague bylaws are inevitable, making it impossible for the Student Judiciary to remedy all the areas of vagueness in ASM bylaws.
""Justice Hernandez said we had to interpret [the bylaw] differently, but outside of that there's no statutory requirement for the bylaws not to be vague,"" Gallagher said.
SSFC filed an appeal Sunday to be reviewed by the Student Judiciary Wednesday, Gallagher said.
If the appeal is denied, SSFC will be required to re-examine groups under a different bylaw interpretation.
""The application for funding is not supposed to be a guessing game,"" Kruse said.
""SSFC needs to put forth straightforward criteria so that everyone who's interested in applying knows what the game is.
