It’s no secret that the anti-abortion student organization has been seen as the punching bag of campus with the precedent that no consequences will be had if they are tampered with. There have been countless times the anti-abortion group has had their displays tampered with and people are comfortable silencing a fellow student organization in broad daylight. If this had been any other student organization, there would be emails sent out by administration and Student Government would be issuing statements on the case quickly. But given it’s a student organization that represents something that is not popular or okay with the ever-popular radical college campus liberalism, it’s a different story.
I have seen people justify the degradation of the anti-abortion group with saying that, “Hey, it’s free speech and I have the right to protest to do so,” but you must do so peacefully without erasing other’s rights. This is not even remotely in the ballpark of how liberty works and it’s concerning to me that this blatant authoritarian attitude is popular. The blatant political and ethical discrimination is rampant when it comes to college campuses and is best displayed with the recent incident at EMU with the anti-abortion group. The anti-abortion group sued the University and rightfully won their case after the university denied the group student activity fees based on its political or ideological views. The university went on to revise it’s policy and remove the ban on funding, as it wasn’t applied consistently.
The true test of character and liberty is how willing one is to defend the rights of others that oppose them in viewpoints. We no longer understand what liberty is. Many see it as totally okay to silence and shun those who think differently and oddly enough a lot of those people seem to be the ones who preach acceptance and that being friendly and accepting is a way to improve overall mental health, but that’s a whole different article and topic. The toxic environment that is created and encouraged of that the other party and its members are the absolute enemy will be our downfall, dehumanizing people with the justification of an agenda. This is a very politically toxic attitude being practiced that will never allow things to get better.
We have to do better and be an example of shinning exceptionalism. In these times of heavy political division and intense incivility, I know we as a campus can pull together and do so. I know we have the maturity to treat our fellow students with real heart felt equality and compassion. Fracturing things even further with these acts against the pro-life student organization will do nothing but harm. There needs to be consequences for students that disrespect student organizations, these acts are showing of blatant disrespect and childishness.
