The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary heard an appeal from a student law association after the ASM Finance Committee denied their request for funding to attend a conference.
Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association/South Asian Law Students Association is a registered student organization within the University of Wisconsin-Madison law school, and its mission is to foster the “social, academic and professional development” of its members as well as provide them with leadership opportunities, according to APALSA/SALSA representative David Maes.
The organization applied for an ASM travel grant to attend the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association conference, which the Finance Committee gives to student organizations to travel to conferences and events that serve primarily educational purposes. Organizations must submit an application and present to the committee, and the committee determines their eligibility based on applications and presentations.
Finance Committee Chair Mary Prunty said the committee denied the law association’s request because the organization’s application and presentation focused primarily on networking and job searching, which makes it ineligible for ASM travel grant funding under ASM rules.
Maes argued the committee misclassified the conference as a job-searching event and violated viewpoint neutrality because the committee provided travel grants to other organizations for conferences that serve “virtually the same” function as the NAPABA conference.
“It is unreasonable and erroneous to classify the conference as a job-search related travel,” Maes said.
But Prunty said the organization's application listed “forg[ing] important relationships and networks” as the conference’s purpose and said students would have networking opportunities at receptions, dinners, workshops and speeches.
Prunty also noted two of the three “ideas” conference attendees would bring back to the organization, according to the organization’s application, are related to finding jobs or networking.
Maes said the organization highlighted the networking aspects of the conference in its application to emphasize how the conference aligns with the organization’s mission, but the conference provides workshops, speeches and other educational opportunities.
The Student Judiciary will deliberate and deliver its decision to the two groups in the next 10 days.
