Source: Colorado Springs Gazette (multiple reports)

A long-running dispute over funding of an LGBT student program at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) has taken a new twist with a statement released by the school’s chancellor, Pam Shockley-Zalabak, which calls for changes to the school’s student constitution to clarify that student officials may not take personal viewpoints into account when they’re dealing with funding for student groups.

Meanwhile, the student politician who was accused of “viewpoint discrimination” when he refused to sign a funding request for a campus LGBT group is using the controversy to help him launch a county-wide political career, Colorado Springs Gazette reports.

David Williams, 22, who has faced a rocky year as president of the UCCS student government group, announced late last month that he is running for a vacant county council seat.

Anti-gay student body politician at Colorado Springs university aims for bigger job [contd.]

"I believe that one of the greatest privileges anyone could fulfill is public service, which is an honorable and humbling task," Williams said in a statement.

“The county needs a commissioner that will stand for what's right; a commissioner that will work to ensure that everyone can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. “This county deserves representation that is dedicated to providing limited government, low taxes, adequate public safety, and fiscal responsibility.”

El Paso County, where Colorado Springs is located, is home to James Dobson’s right wing Focus on Family organization, and several other prominent evangelical Christian groups. With several nearby military bases, its economy and population is dominated by the military.

Williams generated a good deal of publicity for himself in the notoriously conservative city of Colorado Springs after he refused to sign a funding request from a campus LGBT group called Spectrum. Last fall, the group requested $2,100 in student funds for a campus event marking National Coming Out Day, Colorado Springs Gazette reports.

The school’s student senate approved the request, but Williams announced that he would not sign the authorization, saying it would have gone against his beliefs.

“I do not believe in the message and agenda that this club advocates for,” Williams wrote in an October message to the student senate. “I do not believe this event is beneficial to our campus … and I believe our student fees could be put to better use.”

In the message, Williams claimed, “I am by no means a bigot or discriminatory toward anyone,” but then explained why he thought it best to discriminate in against the LGBT group: “I have, for my entire life, been guided by a moral compass that disagrees with the lifestyle and message preached by Spectrum.”

After a delay of five days, Spectrum got the money it had requested – even without Williams’s signature, but Spectrum and the senate filed a complaint with the chancellor. In December, Shockley-Zalabak ruled that Williams had violated the school’s nondiscrimination and “viewpoint neutrality” rules by not formally approving funds for the LGBT group's event.

In October, Spectrum co-chairman Crystal Duckhorn explained to the Gazette, “Members of student government have to exercise viewpoint neutrality because the student fees they allocate are from all students, including lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. Proposals that meet the qualifications and guidelines should be accepted.”

Duckhorn, a first-year graduate student, said the delay caused by Williams’s refusal to sign the funding request prevented Spectrum from making as many signs and posters as they had hoped to use in advertising last year's observance.

After Schockley-Zalabak issued her December ruling, Williams filed an appeal with the school’s Board of Regents which declined to rule on the matter, but appointed an outside lawyer to work with Schockley-Zalabak on the issue.

After talking with the lawyer, Shockley-Zalabak issued a statement last week saying she had received “additional relevant information” about Williams' case. She said that she had concluded he “did engage in viewpoint discriminatory conduct” in choosing not to sign off on the plan, but said there wasn’t enough evidence to establish that he violated the school's viewpoint-neutrality rules or its nondiscrimination requirements, according to the Gazette.

In last week’s statement, Shockley-Zalabak asked the student senate to consider amendments to the student constitution clarifying that student officials may not take personal viewpoints into account with respect to any decision or action in the process of approving funding for a student group.

Along the way, the dispute also resulted in a proposed recall election of Williams which was cancelled by Schockley-Zalabak after he filed his his appeal with the regents.

Williams was then impeached by the student senate last month but not removed from office, according to the Gazette.

Williams’s term as president ends June 30. He was defeated in a bid for reelection to the post.

Source: UCCS chief: Evidence against student leader 'insufficient' | Colorado Springs Gazette
Controversial UCCS pres to run for county commission | Colorado Springs Gazette
Big rift develops over gay event at UCCS | Colorado Springs Gazette

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