Pro-Life
students face possible expulsion from U of C
Calgary,
AB – The University of Calgary has notified eight of its own
students that they are being charged with non-academic
misconduct, with a possibility of expulsion, for having set
up a pro-life display on campus earlier this month.
Campus
Pro-Life (CPL) Club President Leah Hallman stated, "We
understand the severity of the charges, but our consciences
could not contemplate silence, therefore we must stand by
our convictions to fight for the lives of unborn children."
The
group’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) display has been
held on the University of Calgary grounds without incident
eight times since 2006. The GAP display compares abortion to
past historical atrocities, such as the
Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
"They
failed to convince the crown that we were trespassing on our
own campus last year so now they want to charge us with
‘non-academic misconduct’ for exercising our right to
express our views," said Peter Csillag, CPL’s
Vice-president.
Seen in the background, Leah Hallman,
president of Campus Pro-Life is explaining to onlookers what
the pro-life group is all about.
— photo courtesy Campus Pro-Life
"We
condemn and will challenge these charges, as we have with
all previous attempts at censoring and intimidating us."
In 2009,
the University charged six students with trespassing in
relation to the display, but the crown prosecutor stayed
these charges prior to a trial scheduled for November of
2009. The University has threatened participating students
with non-academic misconduct charges on the occasion of each
display, but this is the first time they are following
through with their threat.
"Quite
frankly, I can’t help but feel like we’re living parts of
the novel One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich," stated
Vice-president Cameron Wilson, "it feels almost surreal that
we still have to fight this battle on our own campus."
At a news
conference held on April 19, Cameron Wilson (one of the
club’s Presidents) read the following:
Welcome friends and members of the press.
We of
Campus Pro-Life have been told countless upon countless
occasions that the Genocide Awareness Project, and the
pictures contained therein, are offensive and hurtful to
look at. But if an action is too terrible to look at,
how then can it be tolerated? Why should we leave
unchallenged and undebated a practice so horrific that
words alone fail to describe it? In the many times we
have exhibited this display, we have opened up
discussion on campus, a place where ignited and educated
debate should always feel at home.
Furthermore, we have watched and offered counsel to many
men and women who have been hurt by abortion, and who
have never openly confronted this pain. There is an
immense capacity for healing inherent in this display,
and that – in and of itself – makes this display,
without a shadow of doubt worth the cost that the
university seeks to exact from us individually.
We
hold that the university campus is meant to be a place
of frank discussion and debate. A place where viewpoints
are judged by their merit rather than extinguished by
the use of force based on their relative unpopularity.
We of Campus Pro-Life have a long history with the
University of Calgary documenting our commitment to the
principle of freedom of speech which needs not be long
expounded here.
We
simply wish to deliver a message to the University of
Calgary about their suppression of our freedoms which we
but used to defend society’s weakest elements. Our
message to the University is this: do unto us whatever
you desire, punish us however you wish; but our
convictions shall not change, and we shall not alter our
actions based on intimidation.
• We
shall not abandon the unborn child to be murdered.
• We shall not desert the single mom in crisis.
• We shall not allow the evil of abortion to remain
unexposed.
• We shall not be intimidated by the threat of force.
• We shall not be scared by the threat of expulsion.
• We shall not back down from the stand we have made.
If
they are to punish us, then we are content to let
history revile them for their suppression of liberty. If
they are to punish us, then let the blood of the unborn
child be upon their heads. If they are to punish us then
let the pain of the suffering mom be upon their
conscience. History will not remember what illegitimate
excuse they used, other than as a derogative footnote;
but history will remember their transgression against
freedom, and it is upon this that posterity shall judge
them.
So let
the university do whatever action their twisted
worldview sees fit, for we fear not the judgment of
tyranny. – Thank you.
The
university said in a statement that, "Due to privacy
concerns, the University of Calgary will not comment on
specific matters relating to misconduct proceedings."
For
further information, contact CPL Club President Leah Hallman
at 403-808-3412, Vice-president (external) Cameron Wilson at
403-668-9624, or lawyer John Carpay of the Canadian
Constitution Foundation at 403-619-8014.
