UCCS student president spared recall election

The student body president of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs won't be recalled by his fellow students, but a second impeachment attempt to remove him from office is under way.

On Friday, UCCS Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak canceled a student election to oust David Williams over a dispute arising from his refusal to sign off on an allocation of student activity fees to a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender club on campus.

Shockley-Zalabak on Wednesday issued a stay on the election, which was supposed to begin Thursday, until she could review a formal appeal Williams submitted last week.

Williams questioned the validity of the recall petitions, student signatures and the process used to initiate the recall.

"I found the petitions and the signatures on the petitions to be valid," Shockley-Zalabak said. "However, the process used for the recall was not ratified by the branches of student government - a requirement of the student constitution."

Thus, she stopped the election but said the university's student government association remains a "free-standing student organization."

"The administration's role is to ensure that organizations follow university rules and policies, as well as any rules established by the organization itself," she said.

Also on Friday, student members of the house of the school's government association voted to impeach Williams, after failing to get enough votes March 6 on an impeachment resolution.

The student senate will conduct a hearing on the articles of impeachment the week of April 13, said Robert Wonnett, vice chancellor for student success.

"The actions taken appear to have been in accordance with university rules and policies, as well as rules established by the students for the removal of an elected leader," he said.

Spectrum, the GLBT group that was requesting a portion of the student activity fees for a campus event, was disappointed with the chancellor's decision.

"However, we are very happy with the results of today's house meeting, in which President David Williams was impeached by a ‘12 yes, zero no, zero abstentions' vote," said Crystal Duckhorn, co-chair of Spectrum. "In this sense, the efforts of the students who signed the recall petition were not wasted because their signatures seemed to play a major role in Williams' impeachment."

Williams' term is up in June.