A pro-life group on a Catholic university got in trouble for displaying crosses as a memorial to aborted children by Planned Parenthood every day.
The president’s office at Gonzaga University, a Jesuit Catholic college in Washington, called a meeting with the leaders of the Zags for Life, the pro-life club, following complaints about a cemetery of the innocence display.
According to The College Fix, the university’s Students for Life chapter had to meet with campus ministry, student affairs, the diversity office, Title IX and the president’s office after putting up 972 crosses on the university lawn.
“The meeting went well, but harassment reports are confidential, so we can’t obtain them,” Karlie Lodjic, regional coordinator for Students for Life of America, told The College Fix. “The group president said they met with Gonzaga’s BIAS Team and explained their display and why it didn’t violate the university’s mission statement.”
While the display was on campus, the pro-life group was met with pushback from pro-abortion students. All viewpoints were heard on the sight with proabortion activist chanting “My body, my choice.”
While Lodjic told the College Fix “No action has been taken against the group by the administration” Zach Greenberg, senior program officer with the foundation for Individual Rights in Education, still has concerns.
“Investigative meetings with administrators where discipline is suggested can chill speech,” Greenberg said to the College Fix Correspondent. “Even if no discipline results, requiring students to attend such meetings has a chilling effect because students will be deterred from speaking out again.”
Greenburg encourages those that disagree with a group on campus to utilize the right to free speech to disagree instead of trying to squelch free speech.
“At FIRE we believe the answer is more speech…. the answer to these displays is other displays. It’s always a more speech approach,” Greenberg said.
Greenburg believes students should have the right to see the complaints against them when being threatened with disciplinary action.
While the pro-life group received pushback from pro-abortion activists and the office of the president, Lodjic says that the crosses are still creating conversations throughout the campus.
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