Double Protest on York Lawn Story continued from cover

SAVANNAH DUNN SAVANNAH.DUNN.21@CNU.EDU

Andrews also said, “It seems so ignorant to fight for fetuses, yet to call yourself ProLife and turn a blind eye to people that already exist and are dying.”

When asked her thoughts on the counter-protest to the SFL display, Gibson said, “My thoughts were that protesting on public property is their first amendment right just as putting up the display was our first amendment right. However, those students who stole/vandalized the display were not only disrespectful but also committed a crime.”

“We expected that our display would be vandalized or stolen. CNU is not the

Regarding this statement, Katie Johnston from the Office of Orientation and Student Involvement said, “We don’t approve or disapprove of the content of something. We help organizations host events on campus and go through the proper processes to do that. Which we are happy to do with any of our registered organizations,” Johnston said. “The only reason we would deny an event is when the space isn’t available.” first college at which this display has been set up, and, similarly, ours is not the first of this kind of display to be destroyed,” said freshman member of SFL Ryan Sweeney.

SFL chose the location of the York Lawn specifically for its high-traffic environment. “It was a central location, being near the DSU, Trible Library, and within view of the Court Yard. It was also a proper size compared to the amount of space we needed for the display,” Gibson said. However, Andrews had concerns with the placement of the display. “This display was put in front of a freshman residence hall. Abortion is never an easy decision for people. The people who put up these flags have no idea how many residents of York were perhaps subjected to sexual violence and had to choose an abortion. I can not imagine what a slap in the face that would be as a freshman that is just trying to find their place on this campus, and seeing this mockery,” Andrews said.

Sweeney said, “Students for Life at CNU will continue advocating on campus for an increase in respect for human life from fertilization until natural death.”

Some of the PPGen members that protested have expressed concern about being filmed by SFL who said they would be posting the video on Campus Reform, an American Conservative Website.

Their website says, “As a conservative watchdog to the nation’s higher education system, Campus Reform exposes liberal bias and abuse on the nation’s college campuses.” This made those members of PPGen feel unsafe.

PPGen was upset not only because of the message being put out by SFL but also because it was an ‘approved event’ by the university.

“I was even more angry and confused because our club has been told that we could not do public events like that because the university wants to stay neutral regarding those topics,” Johnson said.

Johnson and other members of PPGen have since had meetings with Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Hughes to clear up past conflicts. “Currently we are working with those old EBoard members to figure out exactly who it was denying us in the past to report back to Kevin Hughes,” Johnson said.

Olivia Fallen, a freshman member of PPGen said, “I believe Students for Life should be allowed to express their opinions, but we have the right to protest against them and share ours. I believed the protest would show that there are more opinions on the matter.”

Johnson said, “I think it’s very important to let the students at CNU know that there are many others that do not agree with the statements displayed on the lawn.”

The purpose of the display was to “Bring awareness to the pro-life cause and be a visual representation of the death abortion has brought our country. We wanted students to see the truth, to see the statistics, and to understand the inhumanity of abortion,” Gibson said.

Both organizations have demonstrated their first amendment right to public protest and have expressed that they will each continue to do so.