Metropolitan State University of Denver must continue to defend a racial discrimination case by a Black student who won the most votes for student government president but was disqualified on the basis of campaign violations.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock refused to dismiss Jeffrey Washington’s suit against the university.
Washington became active in student government in 2010 and campaigned for student government president with a White running mate in 2012. The student government presidency pays about $1,200 a month, Babcock said in his ruling,
At the start of the campaign, Washington and the running mate met with the student elections commission, which had no Black members, to discuss the elections code. The code disqualifies candidates who have three minor violations.
During the campaign, Washington pleaded guilty to or was found guilty of three minor violations. The first cited his use of student government resources for campaigning. The second was for using a table associated with a campus religious group for campaigning. And the third was failing to have a required border around the edges of his posters.
Washington and his running mate received the most votes in the election.
However, the elections commission disqualified them, overruling a student court decision in their favor and certifying the runner-up as president. The university’s president and board of trustees declined to intervene, according to Babcock’s decision.
