Several UW-Madison student organizations will be able to re-apply for eligibility to receive university funding the Associated Students of Madison's Student Judiciary.ruled Friday.
According to the ruling, ASM's Student Services Finance Committee misinterpreted bylaw criteria when it denied funding to groups earlier this semester and must re-evaluate any group that was previously denied funding based solely on the bylaw.
The bylaw in question required groups to state their educational benefits and services and list Significant Additional Components"" offered to students beyond event programming and leadership development.
This is the fourth time this semester a complaint has been made regarding the validity of SAC, according to the Student Judiciary judgment.
After the Roman Catholic Foundation-UW-Madison was denied funding based on not having SAC, the organization appealed the decision to the Student Judiciary last month.
Beth Czarnecki, chair of RCF-UW's board, said the meaning of SAC and wording of eligibility criteria was unclear when she originally presented RCF-UW's funding application.
In its complaint, RCF-UW said SSFC's SAC criteria were ""vague and phantom"" and offered no guidance in its funding requirements.
Last month, SSFC appealed the Student Judiciary's decision in favor of RCF-UW with regards to the bylaw interpretation, and Friday's judgment upheld the Student Judiciary's original decision, which forces SSFC to re-evaluate RCF-UW and other groups by Dec. 10 using a new interpretation of the bylaw.
SSFC Chair Alex Gallagher said RCF-UW, UW-Madison's Jewish Cultural Collective, Asian and Pacific American Council and Promoting Racial and Ethnic Awareness, are four groups that will have the opportunity to re-apply for funding.
JCC Chair Alex Sheridan said the organization was eligible for university funding for the past four years, but was denied funding for the next two years after the same component it had used was no longer deemed significant.
""Before this [current] ruling came in we were in serious jeopardy of being on campus,"" he said. ""We did think [the criteria] was vague '¦ but we're certainly glad that we'll have the opportunity to restate our case with a more defined meaning of the term 'significant additional components.'""
PREA Co-Chair Breianna Hasenzahl-Reeder said she did not think the SAC phrase was confusing.
""We tried our best to make sure we had an additional significant additional component, but I can definitely see why what we presented to the committee was not considered a significant additional component.""
She said the organization might wait until next year to re-submit their eligibility application, with SSFC's critiques in mind to better develop its programming.
Gallagher said none of the organizations had re-submitted their funding eligibility applications Sunday, but according to the judgment, the groups have until Sunday, Nov. 18.
