Central Student Government v. Rackham Student Government (Case: F-12-001) was a suit filed by the Central Student Government against the Rackham Student Government and was heard by the Central Student Judiciary in November 2012. The suit had the potential to impact graduate student secession as it aimed to remove a survey question from RSG's ballot that asked Rackham students if they supported secession and the creation of an all-graduate student government. CSJ ultimately ruled to keep the survey question on RSG's ballot.
A screenshot of RSG's ballot question from its November 2012 elections
In the suit CSG alleged three missteps by RSG:
- RSG did not follow the proper procedure in placing the question on its ballot.
- RSG's bylaws were in contradiction with the governing documents of student governments at the University of Michigan.
- RSG was appointing anyone to the vacant Rackham seats on the CSG Assembly — which had eight of 10 seats vacant at the time of the suit.
CSG filed the suit six days before the election and the hearing was not held until the night Nov. 27 — a full day into RSG's three-day election. Because CSG's allegations against RSG's ballot question were the only part of the suit that was time-sensitive, CSJ split the hearing, leaving questions about RSG's bylaws and its appointment of Rackham representatives for a later hearing.
The full text of CSG's injunction filed against RSG on Nov. 21 can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eVHfO9ytLzZeQ8FSRpvLZe_QwhGneU7RimKU0sRPiUI/edit
The full text of the CSJ decision regarding RSG's ballot question can be found here: https://docs.google.com/a/umich.edu/document/d/1dGlR4pdMa0F-qsxbfWlcAQZqQY0MxxOqL8LCFK7IUEY/edit
