Too often campus clubs because cliquish, but in the case of a Canadian university, a liberal pro-choice club took it a step further and used its power to stop an alternative voice from organizing:
A group of pro-life students at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia, has lost a vote for recognition as a club.
The group’s leader, Marlon Bartram, told LifeSiteNews.com that only those opposed to the club were allowed to post flyers. The pro-abortion campus Women’s Centre, as an officially recognized body, distributed flyers urging students to attend the meeting and vote against club status for the group.
The Student’s Union had refused to ratify the club, even though the group had followed the normal application procedure deciding instead to defer the decision to a vote by the student body. Today, about 75 to 80 students, of a total campus student body of about 5000, attended the meeting and voted about two thirds against the ratification of the club.
Bartram said the Student’s Union, who told him they are a “pro-choice” body, “may have known all along that a student vote was their best route.”
Bartram explained that, although he had personally contacted as many people as he could, since his was not a recognized campus club, his group was not allowed to post or distribute flyers of their own or present their position prior to the meeting.
Bartram told LifeSiteNews.com that he tried at the meeting to emphasize the issue of freedom of speech, but was shouted down. Two microphones were set up and students asked questions and debated but “derogatory remarks” against the pro-life group prevailed in the discussion. “It deteriorated into a pro-lifers vs. pro-choicers meeting,” said Bartram.
In a media release, Bartram said, “While left wing groups such as this speak eloquently of freedom of expression, tolerance, and diversity, those virtues are quick to go out the window when someone who expresses pro life values comes along.”
Why does this student group so scared of having a pro-life alternative on campus? If as Mr. E swears time and time again, pro-Choicers are scientifically and objectively correct are they afraid of another voice.
Worse yet is the overall question of the lesson this teaches the college kids. College is supposed to ease people into "the real world." In the real world, you can’t just vote people who disagree with you out of existence. These college students did themselves a dis-service.
Quite frankly, unless you’re dealing with a religious college that has a mission different from the group (i.e. a gay rights group trying to start at a Baptist Bible college) colleges should be very open about the groups they allow and certainly not just stop a qualified group from forming because of political opinions.
Hat Tip: Generations for Life
whereIstand Tags
Oh absolutley there is, go up to Kalispell, Montana and take a look at their pregnancy support center.
What you support here is tyranny. The Pro-Life student fees go to the pro-Choice group but no pro-life group is allowed.