Catholic University Allows NAACP Student Chapter After Abortion Flap
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 12, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Officials at Catholic University of America will allow a student chapter of the NAACP to form after originally preventing its establishment because the parent organization supported abortion. The student chapter has assured the university it will not engage in abortion-related activities.
Twenty students met last week with CUA president, Rev. David M. O’Connell, and told him that the student chapter will not violate CUA’s pro-life policies.
CUA denied an application by the prospective NAACP chapter because of the abortion concern and the fact that two other organizations on campus already addresses minority issues.
Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, met with Rev. O’Connell over the summer to voice his concerns.
In February, for the first time in the 95-year history of the nation’s largest civil rights group officially announced a position in favor of keeping abortions legal.
The organization also co-sponsored a nationwide rally in April sponsored by leading abortion advocates such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood. They rally attracted less than half of the amount of people organizers expected.
Mfume told the Associated Press Tuesday that the organization has dropped the position statement approved by its board of directors in favor of abortion and indicated that the group’s 25,000 members would need to approve such a statement in the future.
After the CUA decision earlier this year to prohibit the group, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said it was "outright discrimination and intolerance all rolled into one."
Mfume, a former Maryland congressman who built up a solid pro-abortion voting record during his tenure, threatened to sue if CUA officials didn’t relent.
Two CUA organizations promote the interests of African-American students on campus: the Black Organization of Students at Catholic University of America and Minority Voices, an umbrella group for minority organizations.
Related web sites:
Catholic University of America: https://www.cua.edu
NAACP: https://www.naacp.org
