Recall of UCCS student body president on hold

An election scheduled to begin today to remove the student body president of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs from office was put on hold Monday afternoon, pending the chancellor's review of recall rules.

The school's 7,693 students were to vote online today through Thursday on whether to oust David Williams, who declined last fall to sign off on giving a portion of student fees to a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student club for a university event. Williams cited his "personal beliefs, views and convictions" for refusing to OK the request.

The club, Spectrum, eventually received the money, but its members said Williams discriminated against them and hurt their event because of the delay his inaction caused.

Spectrum began circulating recall petitions in early November.

Williams contends that he did not discriminate because he did not veto the proposal, but rather did not sign it, which automatically led to its passage after five school days, as stipulated in the student constitution. That, he said, was his way of representing all students while protecting his personal beliefs.

Williams claims the recall has not been handled appropriately: The school administration verified signatures that were placed on the petition incorrectly, accepted two petitions that were circulated as one, and had no rules in place for a recall, he said.

"The student constitution, signed by the chancellor, requires there to be rules prior to the start of any petition. But rules were never set in place, and the administration is making up rules as they go, which are obviously biased," he said.

The Student Government Association did, in fact, draw up recall rules, but Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak decided Monday to issue a recall stay, saying she "could not confirm the adequacy" of them.

"UCCS is committed to ensuring fairness as adult learners at the campus sort through issues," she said.

Spectrum collected 900 signatures, of which 778 were valid, said Crystal Duckhorn, co-chairman of the group.

"To my knowledge, signatures that were invalid were thrown out," she said. "We did have two versions of the petition - one had room for multiple signatures, and one version allow a single signature - but both posed the same question and required the same information from students."

A lawyer for the CU system reviewed the petitions and determined they were not substantially different, UCCS spokesman Tom Hutton said.

The recall election would have been the latest outgrowth of Williams' decision not to OK money for Spectrum. The club brought a complaint of discrimination to the student government association's judicial board last fall, which split its ruling, saying Williams did discriminate but did not violate the school's rules of being neutral while serving in student government.

Williams appealed the finding to Shockley-Zalabak, who overturned the students' ruling, saying Williams did not act objectively. University of Colorado system President Bruce Benson agreed with Shockley's decision.

Williams has hired a lawyer from the Washington, D.C.-based American Center for Law and Justice to handle an appeal to the Board of Regents, the university system's governing body.

"The decision he engaged in that has been labeled discrimination ought to be reversed," said Jim Henderson, Williams' legal counsel.

The Student Government Association's House of Representatives voted on March 6 to impeach student body vice president Andrew Adair, who has been in alliance with Williams on the issue. The student Senate will decide whether to remove Adair from office. Williams also was considered for impeachment on that date but did not receive enough votes.

Williams' one-year term as student body president ends June 1.

The chancellor has called for an audit of student activity fee usage and a review of the student constitution.