This morning, an informal gathering of about 10-15 pro-life protesters set up shop on Georgetown’s campus. Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, spoke to the Georgetown Public Policy Institute earlier today. According to the Washington Post, an anti-abortion protester interrupted her speech and shouted “You’re a murderer!” and was escorted out. Attendants at the event said the graduates booed the individual out of the hall.

Albert Stecklein III, one of the protesters on Georgetown’s campus today, said that the demonstration was organized informally. He urged that Georgetown’s decision was not a reflection of free speech and open dialogue. “To say that, ‘well you have to support diverse opinions,’ well anyone who supports slavery would not have the same reception,” he said.

Photos and reporting by Lucia He

In a close vote, members of Georgetown’s Student Activities Commission approved funding for what may be an unprecedented of event at Georgetown University, if it takes place—a University-funded panel of three speakers, all pro-choice, holding a discussion of men’s roles in the pro-choice movement.

The event, which is being organized for the controversial “Plan A Hoyas” campaign, is the first event organized by “Plan A” that SAC has funded. It was subject to much debate about whether it violated the University’s mission and speech and expression policy before SAC approved it. Challenged on whether the event went against Georgetown’s mission, a representative of UF said that it did not, according to SAC meeting minutes.

“Our constitutional mission statement is to promote equality for women, and since women are the sole bearers of children, it is within our mission to advance the equality for health services for women,” she said. “Our mission is to promote dialogue about these issues, not limit ourselves to one point of view.”

During the discussion period of the meeting following the presentation, SAC Faculty Adviser Bill McCoy doubted that the event would encourage debate, since its panel was one-sided. Commissioner Scott Stirrett (SFS ’13) countered that the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life could be construed as similarly one-sided. Ultimately, the locus of their discussion became whether or not the panel constituted advocacy or dialogue, and whether it was in violation of the University’s policies or not.

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H*yas for Choice and United Feminists have partnered up in a new campaign that’s demanding substantial change in Georgetown’s reproductive rights policies. The latter being a University-recognized group, the new movement has the potential to endanger UF’s funding and legitimacy.

Through the campaign, called “Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice,” the coalition is making demands for access to material benefits, like contraceptives on campus and rape kits at the Georgetown University Hospital, greater free speech allowances for groups like H*yas for Choice, and “comprehensive health education.”

“These are really rational demands broadly supported by the Georgetown community,” Marion Cory (COL ’10), a board member of United Feminists, told Vox. “It boils down to basic rights, student safety, and student needs.”

Acknowledging that their campaign must adapt to the fact that its advocacy will take place on a Catholic campus, Cory explained that she felt confident their efforts could be successful because their demands were in fact in keeping with Jesuit ideals.

“We don’t see [this campaign] as overcoming Jesuit values, we see it more as asking for Georgetown to consider these issues in their true form, not just the narrows lens it uses now.” she said. “There are a lot of pieces to this issue, like social justice and providing for the health and safety of all people equally.”

She pointed to an open letter the two groups have already written to President John DeGioia on their coalitions’ blog, which she said used a lot of the University’s own language to speak to their demands:

“Issues related to reproductive justice disproportionately affect the lives of people in historically marginalized communities, such as women, people of color, and the economically disadvantaged– the very communities for which Georgetown professes to advocate.

“In addition, the approach Georgetown has taken with regard to discourse around these same issues has been anything but dialogue-promoting. Rather than allow students to openly engage with and discuss issues of choice, sexual health, and contraception, which undeniably shape the society we inhabit, university policies stifle and even prohibit this important exchange of ideas.”

After the jump, the full letter and what this may mean for UF’s Access to University Benefits.

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Your basic equation for a Georgetown controversy

Jill Stanek, a prominent pro-life activist and blogger, recently learned about Georgetown’s Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program, and she’s not pleased.  The program’s summer newsletter highlighted the internship experiences members have had, including a couple students who worked at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Catholics for Choice.

Conservative Catholics usually react so enthusiastically whenever the phrases “Georgetown Law student” and “Planned Parenthood internship” are put together, so Stanek’s response should come as no surprise:

I don’t understand how open flouting of Catholic teaching is tolerated at an institution centered on Catholic teaching. More than that, this group is working to undermine Catholic teaching. It seems to me the Church has lost total control of the American Catholic educational system.

You’d think that with the split-second notification Georgetown gave about President Obama’s speech, we would’ve been able to escape the wrath that militantly pro-life Catholics have heaped on Notre Dame for inviting him to be their commencement speaker. No such luck.

According to the Christian News Wire, D.C.-area pro-life activists will be protesting at the front gates tomorrow to “denounce Georgetown, who invited President Obama to speak, knowing the scandal and outrage surrounding his scheduled speech at Notre Dame on May 17.”

The announcement goes on to equate Obama’s women’s rights policies to Nazi Germany and say, “this sudden invite is as wicked as it is sneaky.”

Director of Media Relations Andy Pino, however, has a more benign explanation for the suddenness of the invitation. Pino wrote in an e-mail:

As with many high profile events that take place on campus, the details of the event came together over a short period of time. The announcement went out to the community as soon as logistics were confirmed.

All class at GWU.

In George Washington University’s great tradition of drawing attention through effective use of symbols, some of its College Democrats took and defaced crosses used at an anti-abortion rally.

A conservative group had placed 1,100 white, wooden crosses on University property on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and some of them turned up vandalized scattered around a room shared by GW College Democrats and Republicans. The Washington Post reports:

“Student Republicans later found drawings and writing in black ink on some of the crosses. One depicted a stick figure of a crucified Jesus. Another, hung upside down, had a condom stretched over it. One had the name of a College Democrats leader.”

On the cross featuring the Jesus stick figure, the vandal had also inscribed the words “pwned” and “lol.”

College Democrats took responsibility for the incident and apologized without publicly revealing the name of the vandal. The GW University Police Department is dealing with the perpetrator, writes the GW Hatchet:

“University Spokesperson Tracy Schario said the student responsible has been identified by the University and will face disciplinary action under the Code of Student Conduct. UPD is investigating the incident further.”

Pwned.

Photo by GW College Republicans.

Thanks for having me, Mom!

You may have quickly deleted an email about “The Tenth Annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life,” but if you are a particular kind of obsessive, there is was gold in that email: Eleanor Waldorf.

One of the speakers in this conference, sponsored by GU Right to Life, Georgetown University Knights of Columbus and Georgetown University Faculty for Life, is Margaret Colin, an “Honorary Co-Chair” of Feminists for Life. Of course you recognize her as the equally vital mother of protagonist Blair Waldorf, well-renowned fashion designer, employer of the erstwhile Dorota, occasional schemer, and now the wife of the great Wallace Shawn.

Colin will be speaking at 10 AM in Gaston Hall on January 21st. You know what to do. XOXO.