by Benjamin Israel
staff editor

Darwin Butler, the last person elected president of the Student Government Association, said he has filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Missouri Commission on Human Rights against the Human Resources office at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Butler, a business management major who is taking two classes by correspondence while serving a sentence at the St. Louis County Justice Center, said he hoped to return to campus before the semester ends and reclaim his office.

Butler was a work-study student in the human resources office on campus from February 1998 until he was fired in May 1999, he said.

Speaking during an interview in the visitation area of the Justice Center, Butler said that Human Resources director Peter Heithaus told him not to speak out about civil rights if he wanted to keep his job.

"He made the statement that he never wanted to hear me say 'racism, discrimination or lawsuit' in the same sentence," Butler said. "And he went on to say if anyone who wanted to say that in his office he would be fired, and I went on to say that I had freedom of speech unless I cry 'Fire,' in a crowded theater."

Heithaus said he could not comment about Butler's complaint. "We are bound by law to keep silent with regard to complaints filed," he said. "I would say this: we treat all our employees fairly and consistently at the University."

Heithaus said he has been working in human resources for 25 years, and this was the first time he has been accused of discrimination.

"In regards to human rights, we do not favor one race, creed or sex over others, and neither does the University," Heithaus said.

Butler is serving a one-year sentence for felony theft. He found the credit card, he said, and bought a computer with it. "I would call it the temporary insanity of greed. I regret that I didn't think before I acted, but more so, I regret the sensationalization [by the media] of this situation."

Butler attended UM-St. Louis on work-release until Oct. 12 when Judge David Lee Vincent revoked his work release for driving while on work release without permission, driving without a license and failing a breathalizer test for alcohol, according to court records.

Butler said his original release date was Feb. 2, 2000. That's because convicts on work release get time off for good behavior, so a one year sentence translates into nine months and 18 days. He said that when his work release was revoked, he lost some of his good behavior time, pushing up his release date to March 24.

The state of Nevada wants him for probation violations, and court records indicate that Nevada plans to pick him up when his sentence here ends. A court there imposed a suspended sentence of two years in 1996 for larceny. Butler said it is not certain Nevada would force him to serve the full two years, and that he hopes to be able to return to campus before the end of the semester.

He has filed papers in both federal and state courts asking to be sent to Nevada immediately.

"The sooner I get to Nevada, the sooner I can get this behind me," Butler said.