College May Punish Pro-Life Group for Display Saying “Most Dangerous Place for African-Americans is in the Womb”

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Apr 21, 2017   |   6:15PM   |   Annapolis, MD

Pro-life students are facing hostility for exercising their free speech rights on college campuses across America.

This week, the College Fix reports a student club at Hood College in Maryland may be punished for using pro-life facts and messages in its display on campus.

The Hood College Republicans set up the display Tuesday in the campus student center to highlight information about abortion and other conservative issues, according to the report.

The display addressed a number of conservative issues, but its information about abortion and transgender issues seemed to trigger the most backlash. Some students and faculty are calling on administrators to take down the display, blasting it as hateful and threatening.

Administrators said they are reviewing the situation to determine whether the College Republicans should be punished.

The Frederick News-Post reports:

One poster depicted a photo of a black female toddler and the words “Let’s talk about race … abortion is the number one killer of black lives in the United States.” Another stated, “the most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.”

Here’s more from the report:

Hood President Andrea Chapdelaine in an email sent to students, faculty and staff Thursday called for the college to review the messages based on “college procedures” to determine if the display violated campus policies, “with appropriate sanctions to follow if such a determination be made.” The email did not specify the procedure or penalties.

… Chapdelaine wrote that “as an educational community, our best response is not with the act of taking down a display, but in how to move forward.”

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In the email, she invited members of the campus community to attend a student-organized forum scheduled for Tuesday.

Club president Christopher Gardner said they have received some positive feedback about the display, but most of it has been negative. He said some of the club members have been bullied on social media.

“We just wanted to provoke thoughtful discussion,” Gardner said.

Pro-life students increasingly have had to fight for recognition and free speech on campus.

In March, a pro-life student club sought legal help after Kutztown University officials in Pennsylvania scrubbed their chalked pro-life messages from the campus sidewalks. The college permitted other groups to write chalk messages on the sidewalk.

In January, pro-life students filed a lawsuit against Queens College in New York after it denied their Students for Life club official recognition.

Pro-lifers frequently deal with vandalism on campus, too. Earlier this month, in two separate incidents, students tried to destroy pro-life displays at Texas State University and Washington State University. And in March, a pro-life student display at the University of Colorado at Boulder was vandalized.

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