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TechnoratiIt was student members of the College Democrats at Liberty University that voted to dismiss their sponsor, not the Lynchburg, Va.-based institution, according to an official of the student-run club.
And the announced resignation of the club’s president, Brian Diaz, was unexpected and made without having run past any of the College Democrats' members, though he used the club’s logo in the statement he sent to the press.
“He (Diaz) sent out this press release to members of the media about 20 minutes after telling me that he wanted to stay with LUCD and work towards a solution,” College Democrats Secretary Jan Michael Dervish informed LU Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. this past weekend after hearing of Diaz’s resignation.
“This happened after the vote to continue without Maria,” he added, referring to the club’s former sponsor, Maria Childress.
In the press release late Friday, Diaz said he was “deeply saddened” by his decision to resign as president of the Liberty University College Democrats but feels that the club “cannot be effective” with the present administration.
“Although I have put in a tremendous amount of work this past year, I believe that ... the dismissal of Maria Childress as our club sponsor, as well as an email from the administration to me stating that, ‘You are distorting the truth, and you know it. You have no credibility with me’ forces me to resign as club President and look for other educational opportunities by the means of transferring to a new institution,” he wrote.
But Falwell, on Sunday, offered his own explanation as to why Diaz had stepped down, revealing that Diaz had allowed a high-level Democratic Party official to secretly listen in on a meeting between College Democrats leaders and LU officials.
“I believe Brian and Maria were being used by local and state Democratic Party officials to spread misinformation and blow this entire matter completely out of proportion,” Falwell informed the media Sunday. “When Maria was voted out by the club, Brian apparently decided he could not continue the drama on his own even with the help of party officials.”
For the past several weeks, LU and College Democrats officials have been working to find a compromise that will allow the student-run club to once again be an officially recognized organization on campus while also battling against the spread of false information and rumors.
Though the College Democrats received recognition last October, they were informed by LU Student Affairs VP Mark Hine last month that they could no longer be recognized after a new policy on club governance was completed, adopted, and made effective by the Liberty University School of Law.
The new policy, which Hine said the College Democrats did not comply with, states: “No student club or organization shall be approved, recognized or permitted to meet on campus, advertise, distribute or post materials, or use University facilities if the statements, positions, doctrines, policies, constitutions, bylaws, platforms, activities or events of such club or organization, its parent, affiliate, chapter or similarly named group (even if the similarly named group is not the actual parent, affiliate or chapter) are inconsistent or in conflict with the distinctly Christian mission of the University, the Liberty Way, the Honor Code, or the policies and procedures promulgated by the University." Continue »
