The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary heard an appeal Wednesday from the College Republicans regarding office space allocations for the 2014-’15 year.
Currently, the College Republicans have what is known as a medium-sized office within the Student Activity Center. After reviewing the group’s application for next year, however, the SAC Governing Board assigned it to a small office space.
When evaluating the applications for office space, the SACGB primarily reviews proposed calendars submitted by each storage organization, determining how many people would be in the office and for how long. In addition, it looks at criteria such as privacy and storage needs.
The SACGB determined that, when compared to other student organizations, College Republicans did not have as great of time and storage needs as other organizations competing for office space.
The College Republicans disagreed, with the First Vice Chair for the group, Megan Cramer, calling the process for allocating office space “absolutely flawed.”
The College Republicans argued that they have proven their need for a medium-sized office in the past. In addition, the group pointed out that organizations very similar to itself, such as the College Democrats, have been granted medium office space.
“We believe that the SACGB failed to comprehend our need for our office and its utility to our organization,” said College Republicans Chair Charlie Hoffman, adding that the group believes it has been “unfairly judged.”
The SACGB refuted this, saying they followed the process set down in its bylaws and did not violate their standard of viewpoint neutrality. Instead, it argued that the College Republicans did not indicate as significant a need for the requested office space in their application as other student organizations.
The Student Judiciary will issue a decision within 10 school days.
