Falwell seeks apology from Democrats club

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Liberty University’s College Democrats club members were trying to draft two documents — a new constitution and a clarification of their comments to news media — Wednesday after meeting with Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. and other administrators.

The new constitution could allow the club to regain official status after LU revoked its recognition because the club supported the Democratic Party’s pro-choice platform and candidates.

But any official acceptance will wait until the club has retracted and apologized publicly for statements that accused an LU official of saying that Democrats couldn’t be Christians, and that the school told club members they couldn’t hold meetings, Falwell said.

Maria Childress, the club’s staff adviser, said Falwell and other administrators criticized the club strongly for its comments to the news media last week. The meeting Wednesday lasted almost two hours.

Falwell and Childress said LU expects the club to retract a statement that accused Mark Hine, vice president of student affairs, of telling Childress and club officer Jan Dervish that a person could not be both a Democrat and a Christian.

“Mark Hine personally is due an apology and retraction, and Liberty was slandered and lies were told, and it needs to be corrected,” Falwell said.

Childress said Wednesday night that “we are working on a response” that should be ready in 48 hours, but the club hadn’t decided whether it would include a retraction and apology.

Childress said during at least one interview last week that Hine essentially held that Democrats couldn’t be Christians.

The comment was widely repeated in news articles and on Internet sites, and it led to Hine’s being dubbed by a cable TV commentator as one of the “worst people in the world,” Falwell said.

During the Wednesday meeting, Hine insisted he never said Democrats couldn’t be Christians. “That’s patently false,” Falwell quoted Hine as saying. “I never said anything like that. I don’t believe that,” Falwell continued to quote Hine as saying.

Childress and Dervish, who were in a meeting last week where Hine supposedly made the comment, didn’t disagree with his assertion Wednesday, Falwell said.

Falwell also said an e-mail that Hine sent to the club that cited university rules for club meetings could have been misunderstood. But, Falwell said, Hine tried to make it clear in the follow-up meeting with Childress and Dervish last week that the College Democrats could hold meetings in the cafeteria, student center or empty classrooms.

The revoked recognition meant the club would not receive financial support from the university, it would not be able to use Liberty’s name in communications, and it could not invite outside speakers or hold events on campus, Falwell said.

After hearing the club members’ explanation, Falwell said, “I can see where they might have thought” Hine’s e-mail meant they couldn’t meet on campus. But Hine told them personally that they could still meet, Falwell said.

The chancellor said his own statements to news media last Friday also made it clear that the club could still hold informal meetings.

Yet, the club continued to tell reporters that it wasn’t allowed to meet, Falwell said.

“That’s why we are demanding an apology,” he said Wednesday.

The new constitution that was being drafted would be a pro-life document on the matter of abortion, Childress said.

Although Falwell has suggested the group align itself with a pro-life wing of the Democratic Party, Childress said the college club didn’t plan to pair up with any particular group.

“We don’t want to be reduced to a one-issue or two-issue club,” Childress said. “We want to be able to address all issues of the Democratic Party platform.

“Our proposal is that we work on how we can come up with something that’s agreeable to the university and still allow us to maintain our status” as a recognized club on campus, Childress said.