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Updated 3:52 p.m.:
After meeting with Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. today, members of Liberty University’s Campus Democrats club said they are developing a proposal that would let the club regain officially recognized status while promoting a pro-life agenda.
The club also is drafting an apology to the school and a retraction of some statements it made to the news media last week after the university revoked the club’s official recognition.
Maria Childress, the club’s staff adviser, said Falwell and other administrators criticized the club for its comments to the news media. A meeting of club representatives and university administrators lasted almost two hours today.
The retraction and apology probably will come within 48 hours, and members are deciding what to say in the statement, Childress said.
The club is expected to retract a statement that accused university administrator Mark Hine of saying a person could not be both a Democrat and a Christian, Childress said.
Childress said today’s meeting cleared up many misunderstandings about what transpired as a result of the club’s losing its official status at LU.
“It was a productive meeting in that manner and we were able to clear up some of the issues,“ Childress said.
Earlier:
Members of Liberty University’s once-recognized College Democrats club say they hope a meeting today with Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. will lead to their reinstatement as an accepted campus group.
Falwell said the club would need to align itself with a pro-life wing of the Democratic Party before Liberty could restore privileges, such as use of formal meeting rooms and the university logo on its communications.
But even without those privileges, the club members can meet informally in “common areas” such as the student center or cafeteria, Falwell said Tuesday.
“No policeman would be running up and saying, ‘you have to stop meeting, you’re a Democratic club,’” if a group were to gather in the student center, Falwell said.
The meeting-on-campus issue seemed to revolve around how strictly the university applies its conduct code for unofficial clubs.
Mark Hine, Liberty’s vice president of student affairs, said he met last week with one of the College Democrats’ officers and also its staff adviser. They discussed an e-mail Hine had sent to notify club members that the university was revoking its one-year recognition of the Democratic club.
Liberty revoked its recognition of College Democrats because members supported the party’s platform and candidates who were pro-choice on abortion.
Although the e-mail quoted an LU conduct code that says unapproved clubs were not “permitted to meet on campus,” Hine said he made it clear in the meeting with staff adviser Maria Childress and club officer Jan Dervish that meetings were not being prohibited.
“I made every attempt to make it clear how we should interpret what was being said” in the e-mail, Hine said. “In all my years at Liberty, I’ve never seen a student group approached and thrown out of a room because they were having a discussion that doesn’t meet with university approval.
“That hasn’t occurred and won’t occur,” Hine said.
Childress and Dervish said they left the meeting with the impression that the club would not be allowed to meet on campus.
Hine said a misunderstanding could have persisted because “I was not bringing them great news,” but during the meeting he mentioned places on campus where the College Democrats could hold meetings.
“Hopefully we can hammer some of this out” in today’s meeting, Hine said.
Falwell said he sent e-mails to several students over the weekend telling them the Democratic club could still meet on campus, provided it did not use the university’s name as part of its identity.
Only one student replied to the e-mail, Falwell said, so he included the free-meetings assurance in his comments to the news media as well, hoping to reach the club members that way.
“We’ll make that clear in the meeting” today, Falwell said.
The chancellor also said Democratic clubs have existed on campus without formal recognition for most of the university’s 37 years.
“We have plenty of unendorsed, unrecognized groups on campus that have nowhere else to meet” except in a common area or unused classroom, Falwell said. Hine said study groups often meet in such locations.
Discussions continued Tuesday about Democratic Party factions that might be acceptable to Liberty administrators.
Childress said she and some club members had discussions on Facebook with Virginia Democrats for Life, a group of Democrats who oppose abortion. Gregory McKinney, a board member for the group, said it’s just getting started in Virginia and hopes to organize chapters on three or four campuses starting next fall.
Childress said the College Democrats also were thinking about another group known as Faithful Democrats, which describes itself as “a Christian-focused Democratic community online,” that is associated with the national party.
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Reader Reactions
thehar2. NO ONE WANTS TO KILL UNBORN BABIES. Nobody is in favor of abortion; there are those who oppose abortion totally and those who agree that abortions are OK under certain circumstances (like rape, incest, mother’s life), and there are those who believe it should be a woman’s right to decide what is right for her, and that is between her and God.
Based upon your comments regarding the purpose of marriage, I assume you would be opposed to people over child bearing years getting married? They can not “produce children and replinish (sic.) and multiply as God intended.” How about heterosexual couples that know they will not be able to have children? Should they also be denied marriage? The sad thing is your answer to these two questions is very likely NO. How is this different from two men or two women getting married, ye who KNOWETH what God means?
And, I have never read such a rambling sentence as this: “Maybe all Democrats do not favor such things and they do believe, that these issues are wrong as well , but these days it seems more Democrats have openly spoken more in favor than the Republicans”
Jerry Sr. also fought so hard for segregation during the early years of his ministry. Would you support him then if he had denied campus recognition of an organization that was opposed to segregation?
You ask: “I just wonder why it took so long for them to come to this decision ??” The answer is obvious; MONEY. Or maybe they just hadn’t read that part of the Bible that you reference as showing what they should or should not be doing. God didn’t speak to them as quickly as God spoke to you. Also, the fact that the organization was approved in October, before President Obama was elected, may just show that they are sore losers and are taking revenge out on the students. What an idiotic way to run a university. A university is about the students; Mr. Jr. must have forgotten that or, maybe, just never recognized that fact. He seems to think the university is not about students, nor principles, but only about MONEY. MONEY is Jr’s new God. Didn’t Jesus say something about a rich man and a camel and the eye of a needle? Seems to me that there is something in the “word of God” that addresses that issue. Of course that rich man is also the late Jerry Sr., and I still haven’t seen a camel going through the eye of a needle, so I wonder where Jerry Sr. is right now? Hmmmmmm…..
You are using a statement you won’t hear coming for “the mountain.” You write: “I do not believe however if they were true Christains that they would support such canidates nor should they be allowed to use the University’s name or money.” This is the true reason they have kicked the Democrats off campus, but they will say it deals with religion and NOT politics.
And people in Lynchburg see every day what Jerry Sr. built which is a closed minded Bible College that produces right winged fundamentalists who are homophobic, believe the earth is 8000 years old and have no touch with reality. PEACE!
their many words
I for one am so proud of Jerry Jr. for taking a stand to not fund this party.It would be a slap in his fathers face if he did .Jerry senior founded this college and church on the word of God and fought many public battles against abortion and same sex marraige.This is similar as to what Jerry senior would say you hate the sin you don’t hate the sinner.If you believe that the BiBle is the word of God you would not be fighting so hard for funding and the same rights as other clubs to support anyone that is in favor of going against what this college , it’s founder, and yes even the word of God, intended .How can you support anyone who wants to kill a unborn child ? How can two men produce children and replinish and multiply as God intended ? Maybe all Democrats do not favor such things and they do believe, that these issues are wrong as well , but these days it seems more Democrats have openly spoken more in favor than the Republicans . It has been public knowledge that more than a few have made it clear they do go against the principals that this college ,church and it’s founder so strongley fought for .I applaude Jerry and Jonathan if they do not finicially support anyone or thing that has to do with going against what their father fought so hard and built the foundation of this great University and Church on . I just wonder why it took so long for them to come to this decision ?? It should have been nipped in the bud as soon as it was discovered, that any group had supported anyone who was infavor of abortion and other issues the college does not support !I think this University has it’s greatness and successes because it was founded just as Jerry Senior believed on the profatic word of God.NO one at the college I believe is trying to silence any of the students they can have free choice as who they support,they just don’t need LU to back them money wise or otherwise .I do not believe however if they were true Christains that they would support such canidates nor should they be allowed to use the University’s name or money.Anyone who is for abortion and same sex marriage is going against everything the University ‘s founder fought so hard to establish. I think it’s a disgrace to dishonor LU and it’s founder by trying to keep asking for the same right as other clubs that will not support this sort of thing, since it was said they this club had already done this .Jerry Senior loved his students and was very proud of them and LU .If he was still alive I think he would have made the same decision as his son’s who carry on his legacy. I for one am very proud that Jerry Jr. made this decision and I trust he can work it out with the students .The point is, Can the person they choose to support, with their group not let them down .Why did they even support a canidate who went against issues that the founder of their school fought so hard to establish , to me that’s a insult to Liberty, the church and all it stands for .I can see why LU took this stand. Knowing they will get a lot of flack on the subject .Jerry senior stood firmly on his ground thru many a bad storm and did not waiver .If these students insist on the same rights as the other clubs I hope they can assure that the people they support have the same values as what this University was based on, other wise maybe they should find another University that was not founded on these values, .I think it’s a disgrace to Liberty and it’s founder who felt so strongly about these issues. I don’t care if they are Republican ,Democrat , the title does not really matter .It’s the moral issues they support that is in question ! LU should NOT fund anything that is not what this Great school and church was founded on . Jerry Senior ,Moral Majority,have people fogotten so soon everything this man accomplished by standing his ground on certain issues . He built this school on a strong foundations and moral values that should NOT be for anyone who begs to differ or supported by LU.Intergrity, loyalty, respect,dignity , moral values , makes for a Great School and good people do not try and please all the people it cannot be done stand your ground , remember the basis, your founder did not establish this University or Church to have it disgraced by some students who makes the wrong choice to support a canidate who is infavor of such issues. Jerry worked and preached all his life against such things as abortion ,why should even be in question here?
know them by their fruit
Cutting through the double-speak—Falwell doesn’t like the way LU has painted itself into a corner. My guess is he’s heard from alumni (and prospective students) and doesn’t like what he’s heard. After all, who wants a degree from a college that stifles thought and discourse? Get ready for the “revelation” coming from Liberty Mountain. There is a disconnect between Falwell, Jr. and the younger generation that threatened the future growth of LU. Things change, Jr., even among fundamental Christians.
“Although the e-mail quoted an LU conduct code that says unapproved clubs were not ‘permitted to meet on campus,‘ Hine said he made it clear in the meeting with staff adviser Maria Childress and club officer Jan Dervish that meetings were not being prohibited.“
That is such tortured double-speak.
The (official) e-mail quotes a written LU conduct code that explicitly states that “unapproved clubs were not ‘permitted to meet on campus.‘“
Hine “clarifies” the above understanding by stating “that meetings were not being prohibited”?
Such extensive efforts in backpedaling ....
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