New political club on campus

The College Constitutional Conservative Christian Coalition, also known as C5, is an organization that was started by Liberty students to shed light on politicians and political issues.

The club is a spin off of Dr. Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. C5 does not support a political party, but they support the ideas of adherence to the United States Constitution, conservative economic values, fiscal responsibility and biblical social values like marriage between one man and one woman and being pro-life.

Club creator Craig Storrs chose the name College Constitutional Christian Coalition because he believes that the “Constitutional Conservative Christian” represents the three basic legs of the club.

Anthony Simonetti, the vice president of C5, believes in the late Dr. Falwell’s dream.

“We want to bring back the moral and biblical values to campus,” Simonetti said.

The club is just getting started, and it has only met one time, but 15 people attended the first meeting along with Virginia Senatorial Candidate Tom Garrett.

C5 hopes to expand in the future to other campuses.

“If we get the opportunity, we are going to travel to other universities where there is interest. We are going to try to make C5 into a nonprofit organization while retaining the student club aspect,” Storrs said.

The first spark of an idea for the club came after Dr. Elmer Towns spoke in convocation last year and told students to “take what he and Dr. Falwell started and do it bigger and better.”

That speech got Storrs thinking about what Dr. Falwell did that he could further.

“I thought, duh, the Moral Majority,” Storrs said. “So why not, instead of promoting a political party, promote just general ideas that pertain to the biblical faith and pertain to personal beliefs.”

C5 is currently working on a plan to get Steve Newman, a state senator, and Scott Garrett, a House of Delegates representative, to visit Liberty. Also in the works is a plan to have Bert Dodson and Tom Garrett debate at Liberty. Dodson is challenging Garrett for the state senate seat. Garrett has confirmed, but no response has been heard from Dodson’s campaign.

Storrs believes people should be able to express their opinions or beliefs without worrying that someone is going to judge them.

“C5 has no political affiliation whatsoever, so we’re open to every idea, but the basic tenants of the club are adherence to the Constitution, conservative economic values, and promoting biblical social values,” Storrs said.

One project that the club would like to work on for the upcoming election is building a chart that tells students what the politicians stand for. The club would not be endorsing any candidate, just trying to help voters become more informed so people don’t make blind decisions.

“Everyone has become so sick and tired of hearing, ‘Vote for so and so because of X, Y and Z,’” Storrs said. “We want to provide an objective comparison between the candidates.”

With the shape the economy is in now, people have many questions about where it is headed and the plans that Congress has.

“We are most passionate about starting a discussion with students and bringing back the life of the Constitution. We want to make people responsible for their choices,” Simonetti said.

C5 was recognized as an unofficial club in April and does not receive funding from Liberty.