Campus Conservatives dissolves after leadership dispute, students may create new group
The rumors are true — Campus Conservatives is no more.
Former president Bryant Greiner said the group, which sought to represent students with conservative political beliefs, has dissolved after several disagreements and struggles within group leadership.
Greiner, a Hart senior, said the group crumbled because several of its members had a falling out with Dennis Lennox II, who founded Campus Conservatives.
“Basically when I was president, Dennis would hide things from me,” Greiner said. “He had control over things that I didn’t have control over.”
Greiner was president of the group from April 2009 to March. He said he became frustrated with Lennox, who was initially unwilling to hand over control of the group’s e-mail account, Facebook page and website.
When Greiner finally obtained access, he said he changed the passwords to prevent Lennox from taking them over. That, he said, is when the trouble began.
“I told him I needed control of the group because I was the president and he wouldn’t take that as an answer,” Greiner said.
Lennox declined to comment about the situation.
Manistee junior Rebecca Hodson, elected as president in 2010 of the group, said some members are actively discussing forming a new conservative organization on campus.
“It’s something that is in the works,” she said. “It’s just not official what group it will be yet.”
A long history
Campus Conservatives has existed on campus since the 1960s, but its status as an official registered student organization has fluctuated over the years.
After being inactive for a period of about four years, Lennox reactivated the group’s RSO status in 2006.
Greiner and his officers resigned before the end of their term and handed leadership of the group over to Hodson, who had already been elected as the new president after continued issues with Lennox.
Greiner said before Hodson could take office, Lennox held a secret meeting and invited only three people from the entire organization.
During the meeting, Greiner said Lennox voted himself in as president of the group.
Upset that Lennox was trying to regain control over the group, Greiner and other members of Campus Conservatives tried to curb his efforts.
“We pointed out to Dennis, ‘You can’t have a secret meeting,’” Greiner said. “We looked up the constitution of the group and went after him — he wrote the constitution, we were using his own words against him.”
After the meeting, Lennox rescinded Hodson’s membership and banished Greiner from the organization, Greiner said.
She said she thought the move was immature and unprofessional.
If a new conservative group is formed, Hodson said it will be formed under a new name.
“Sadly, the name on campus of Campus Conservatives is synonymous with Dennis Lennox,” she said.
