Former InterVarsity Treasurer Steven Jackson, who felt pressured to resign from his post in December because he is gay, and Senate Chair Darwinson Valdez, who made the official ruling to de-recognize IVCF as a result in April, spoke with The Spectrum and responded to IVCF's Sunday re-recognition by the Student-Wide Judiciary.
Jackson supports the decision. Valdez, however, believes it is completely wrong.
Valdez thinks the SWJ's decision - which overturned his ruling - was faulty.
"SWJ Chief Justice Andrew Stebbins completely ignored the fact that in the IVCF constitution there is mention of what a member is, but there is no mention of what an officer is," Valdez said. "In IVCF's contract in 1957, it said: 'IVCF is an open club, open to all members to do all functions.' One of those functions is being an executive board member."
Jackson has remained supportive of the religious group throughout the trial, and said he supports its re-instatement. While he won't say whether or not he thinks Stebbins made the correct ruling (separation of powers, considering his position as speaker of the SA Assembly), he doesn't harbor a grudge against IVCF and is happy the club is able to fully function again.
"Religious liberty certainly gains the victory here," Jackson said. "It would seem crazy to say a club can't limit their leadership based on what they believe. If an officer is elected who even has a little bit of a decimal point in change from the belief of the group, eventually it's just going to keep shifting until 10 years, 15 years down the road, you're not going to necessarily have the same club."
Valdez said re-instating IVCF encourages discrimination on campus because it has now been proven the club isn't open to all.
"What does it tell all the students paying the mandatory student activity fee if they don't have open membership?" Valdez said.
Jackson is a junior history major.
"I remain supportive of [InterVarsity] in the sense that they saw a potential hole in their leadership and for the betterment of the club in the long run, they made what seemed to be the right decision," Jackson said. "And I can't knock them for that."
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
