It looks like Liberty University’s former Democract Club sponsor may wind up on the unemployment line, while the former student club president starts looking for a school to transfer to.

I figured the 30 or so students might want to get out of Liberty and attempt a transfer to another educational institution. I wondered what the fate would be of the faculty sponsors. I doubted the school administration would stop until they hounded them out, given the school political and fundamentalist bent. I have a tendency to underestimate the fundamentalist mindset.  What remained to be seen was how much the administration would put the boots to  staff and students the school sees as violating their institutional moral code and sensibilities.
One staff member down, one to go.

Falwell said the university decided that club sponsor Maria Childress can no longer work directly withstudents after learning that she had been convicted last month of several
misdemeanor charges. Therefore, he said, she could not sponsor the club if it regains official status.
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 them (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 Friday 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 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.”
As of Friday, the school had not yet determined whether Childress will retain her position as secretary of the honors program, Falwell said.
“She can probably just continue to work at Liberty as a secretary, as long as she doesn’t have direct contact with students,” he said.

It would be interesting to know how many judges in Lynchburg are grads of Liberty U Law school and what connections the father-in-law has. In a child visitation dispute, Ms. Childress has probably learned to have people around when handing her child over to former in-laws for a visit. She was secretary of the honors program.  
The club was suspended last month, I don’t believe student Republican clubs receive student government funding, but I haven’t read they have been officially discontinued.

As for Ms. Childress,  Jerry Falwell Jr. told news sources, “I think it would raise concerns with parents if people with violent criminal convictions in the last year were working with students.”

19 year old freshman student club former president, Brian Diaz, did learn something I guess; cut your losses and move on.  He wrote an open letter June 19th indicating his decision to leave Liberty U.  No word on how the other students interested in a Democrat Club are faring. Diaz:

Our club received the “Up and Coming club of the Year” award while I was President, as well.

Although I have put in a tremendous amount of work this past year, I believe that based on the dismissal of Maria Childressas 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.

I do not wish to speak badly about the Liberty; I only wish to be apart of an institution that fosters diversity within its student body. I am deeply saddened by this decision but I feel that with the present administration the Liberty University College Democrats cannot be effective.

I hope that I can transfer to an institution this coming fall that will continue to help me develop my education, bipartisanship, and leadership skills. I will be applying to a number of schools including Virginia Commonwealth University, Randolph College, and a number of other universities across the Commonwealth.

Update: Liberty has decided to change policy and permit  Liberty University College Democrats to exist as an unofficial club. College Republicans have also been stripped of official status and will be recognized as an unofficial club.