WBRS failed to persuade the Student Union Judiciary to seal the results of a student referendum to reform the club funding system, at a hearing in the Shapiro Campus Center that stretched late into Thursday night.The Student Union-sponsored referendum, which passed by a vote of 1,251 to 474, will cut WBRS' funding by about $25,000 and will require the group-and all secured groups other than the Justice and the Union-to present its budget to the Finance Board for approval.

WBRS general manager Julie Craghead '07 signed the complaint, which consisted of seven motions accusing the Union of a series of constitutional violations in their efforts to lobby for the reform.

WBRS counselors Glenn Prives '06, Alex Spigelman '07 and Jason Levine '06 did not hold back their criticisms of the Union.

"The very principles our Union Constitution have been founded on were deliberately and maliciously ignored in an effort to deceive the student body . in order to pass [Union President Jenny Feinberg's '07] personal agenda," Spigelman '07 said in his opening remarks.

Union counselors Jeremy Widder '06, Kelley Collacchi '06 and Aaron Braver '07, who serves as Union Secretary, were adamant in refuting WBRS' claims.

"No facts will support that a law has been broken," Widder said.

The WBRS attorneys alleged that Feinberg misled WBRS leadership into believing that if the amendment failed, subsequent action by the administration would be worse.

"Ms. Feinberg was playing a game of real politik, deceiving those from whom she feared opposition," the WBRS complaint read.

Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett was called to testify for WBRS. She said the administration never threatened to take money away from students groups, as WBRS alleges Feinberg told them.

But Feinberg testified that administrators had informed her that they would develop their own proposal to reform the SAF if the Union effort failed.

Feinberg recalled a conversation with Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer in which he told her that Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy "likes to hold people accountable" and that the current system of SAF distribution "makes her nervous."

Senator for the Class of 2007 Joshua Karpoff was also accused of misconduct. The complaint alleged that Karpoff violated the Union constitution by sending out a message supporting the SAF reform to a class of 2007 listserve on which only elected Union officials can post.

Conflicts of interest were dominant on the bench. A WBRS motion requested that UJ Chief Justice Sam Dewey '06 and Justice Bryan Deutsch '08 recuse themselves from the case because they are both members of a group on the Web site facebook.com called "I Support the SAF Amendment."

Justice Rebecca Gedalius '06, who is also a copy editor for the Justice, was also asked by the Union's attorneys not to participate because of her position as editor in chief of Archon, the campus yearbook organization which would see its funding cut about $25,000 by the amendment, and because she had made on the record statements in opposition to the amendment. Only Dewey recused himself from a single WBRS motion.

Another item of the WBRS complaint asserted that Union Representative to the Board of Trustees Albert Cahn '07 acted improperly following an appearance on the station's debate show "Open Lines."

WBRS Program Director Deb Model '06 testified about Cahn's behavior, alleging that she and other WBRS staffers saw Cahn looking through a drawer containing confidential historical and budgetary documents. "I didn't give him permission to go through that file," she said.

WBRS also objected to the fact that Union officials had tables in dining halls that asked students to vote for SAF. "It is completely improper for the government to stand there and watch you vote in a secret-ballot election," WBRS said in their complaint to the court.

Less than an hour after the hearing adjourned, Dewey announced that WBRS' request had been denied. The written opinion of the court has not yet been issued.