The Central Judiciary
The Central Student Judiciary (CSJ) at the University of Michigan is the judicial branch of the Central Student Government. Often hearing cases involving election disputes, CSG constitutional issues, and reviews of decisions made by student groups on campus, the CSJ is the highest adjudicating student body at the University of Michigan. Although CSJ requires potential parties to make a good faith effort to handle conflicts within their own organization, the Court is available for both arbitration and to hear challenges to a student group’s decisions. CSJ is composed of nine justices, only four of which can be from any one college of the University, ensuring a diversity of views and opinions on the court.
The Central Student Judiciary's Manual of Procedure can be found here.
Those interested in being a part of the CSJ can submit an application here.
While CSJ's decisions are based on the CSG Constitution, the CSG Compiled Code, and some United States law, the Court also considers group regulations (e.g. student organization constitutions) and the Standards of Conduct for Recognized Student Organizations when making decisions. Although the applicable sources of law are varied, no legal training of any kind is required to bring a case before CSJ. Ensuring that the process and outcome is fair, rather than technically perfect, is the first priority. To ease the process, CSJ can appoint student counsel to represent a party, or they may retain their own representatives.
Any student who feels she has been wronged may bring her case to CSJ. Disputes between students or student organizations should be brought to CSJ when the parties cannot reach an agreeable outcome, when all other channels have been exhausted, or it is not clear who the moderator should be. CSJ hears cases the entire school year and is accessible to answer questions about whether or not we can hear your case. Review the Constitution and the Compiled Code to see if your claim is legally sound. If you still have questions, e-mail the Court for insight into your situation. If you are ready to state a claim, please see the CSJ Manual of Procedure and bring the appropriate forms to the CSG Office, located in room 3909 of the Michigan Union.
This page is intended to provide a jurisprudential resource for CSJ justices and the Michigan student body. Please feel free to browse and search our database. For your convenience, both a page list (rough table of contents) and tag cloud (pre-tagged search terms arranged by order of prevalence) have been provided. The Court looks forward to working to ensure all students on campus have meaningful access to justice.
File a Case or Motion
Form 51-1 (Standard compliant form for CSJ) Please fill out the form by hand, scan it and email it to the Chief Justice in order to file a complaint.
Form 51-2 (Make a motion in a pending case) Please fill out the form by hand, scan it, and email it to the Chief Justice in order to file a motion.