ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.

Student Life and ASMSU began the investigation after student judicial board members heard cases and met before ASMSU appointed them, Leahy said.

According to university policy, judicial boards cannot meet until undergraduate student members are appointed by ASMSU.

All judicial board nominees received information about the governance and appointment process, including that they must be appointed by ASMSU, Shafer said.

“They are all given something in writing that tells them that part of the appointment process is for them to be confirmed by governance,” Shafer said.

Shafer declined to comment on more specific details regarding the investigation.

“I have tremendous respect for the student government process,” he said. “Some of the details about some of the things that have been written about are much more complex and complicated.”

ASMSU officials did not begin interviewing student judicial board nominees for appointment until November, when they received and reviewed the written rules and regulations for serving on the judicial boards.

After asking for several years, Leahy said ASMSU made a final request to Shafer Oct. 1 and received the written rules and procedures Nov. 1.

“The written rules and regulations protect the rights of the accused, the victim and everything in the scope of the trial, so they are pretty critical,” Leahy said.

When Leahy e-mailed nominees to invite them to the Nov. 29 ASMSU Student Assembly meeting for interviews, he received several replies indicating boards had already met, further meetings were scheduled and boards had already heard cases.

ASMSU’s investigation seeks to determine how many cases were heard by student judicial boards without proper appointment.

“A procedure in place for the composition of the judicial bodies was not followed, therefore we have to look at the situation and decide what should be done at that point,” said Lee June, vice president of Student Affairs and Services.

Difficulty contacting previous defendants due to winter break and poorly written judicial records have slowed the investigation, Leahy said. Prior to ASMSU and Student Life instituting a new record-keeping policy, the names of student judges serving on a case were not kept on file.

“It’s shocking just how bare bones the records are,” Leahy said.

Two of the three judicial boards require members serve two-year terms, making attempts to determine how many boards have improperly heard cases almost impossible because of students graduating, Leahy said.