LYNCHBURG — The student president of the suspended Liberty University College Democrats is leaving the school, which demanded the group get a new university sponsor if it wants to regain official recognition.
Brian Diaz cited the Liberty administration’s dealings with him personally, as well as its decision to remove Maria Childress as the club’s sponsor, as factors in his decision to resign the presidency and transfer to another school.
His decision to transfer comes from his desire to be part of “an institution that fosters diversity within its student body,” Diaz said in a news release Friday.
Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said the university decided that club sponsor Childress can no longer work directly with students after learning that she had been convicted last month of several misdemeanor charges.
And yesterday, Falwell said the university is considering ending recognition of all political clubs, though the school would reserve the right to decline use of some its some of its facilities if the groups wanted to support candidate’s counter to the school’s Christian mission.
On May 20, Childress was found guilty in Lynchburg General District Court of misdemeanor assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing.
“I don’t think we could have her serving as an adviser and working with [students] on a day-to-day basis,” Falwell said. “I think it would raise concerns with parents if people with violent criminal convictions in the last year were working with students. So I don’t think we could do that.”
Childress said she feels that the school was using the misdemeanors as an excuse to remove her as club sponsor.
“This is a direct attack to my character, not having anything to do with the club,” she said. “It’s a tactic for them to do whatever they wish.”
She said the charges stemmed from a domestic dispute with her ex-father-in-law over visitation with her daughter.
“They had witnesses, I did not,” she said. “It is what it is.”
Childress, Liberty’s honors program secretary, received a 60-day sentence, with all but four days suspended. Childress said she was required to serve two days in jail, which she completed last weekend.
When asked whether the charges would affect her competence to work with students, she responded,: “Absolutely not, in no shape or form. That’s ludicrous for that to even be asked.”
(Dave Thompson and Christa Desrets are staff writers for The News & Advance in Lynchburg.)
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