A pro-life activist student group rejected the university’s proposal for a designated protest area Nov. 29, according to the group’s lawyer.
Ryan Flannagan, director of student affairs, sent an email to the pro-life group, Carleton Lifeline, Nov. 18 with the proposal and a letter, according to Lifeline’s president, Ruth Lobo.
Flannagan’s letter stated that students who continue to display graphic anti-abortion images as part of a protest called Choice Chain “will be issued sanctions under the student’s rights and responsibilities policy, and may be escorted and/or arrested by Carleton’s campus safety and Ottawa Police Service officers.”
Five Lifeline members were arrested Oct. 27 in the Academic Quad after trying to stage a similar protest with graphic images on handheld signs.
Lifeline’s lawyer, Albertos Polizogopoulos, declared the email was “threatening, and not conducive to any type of agreement,” in a lettered response.
According to Polizogopoulos, Carleton Lifeline would take “the position that Carleton University is discriminating against [them]” and rejected the outlines of the proposal.
The proposed agreement also prevents Lifeline from approaching students, distributing pamphlets or moving away from their designated “zone,” the sidewalk leading from the University Centre to the Steacie Building.
“This is a blatant infringement on our chartered rights,” Lobo said.
The proposal and its attached letter were to be considered an ongoing conversation of compromise, not a threat, Flannagan said.
“The university ultimately has the responsibility to manage its property and that’s what was articulated in the letter,” he said.
“The university has struck an appropriate balance of allowing all parties to get their messages out, and the steps we’ve taken to date seem reasonable.”
According to Lobo, Choice Chain isn’t considered an exhibition because it doesn’t use handheld signs and therefore does not require proposed agreements for space.
“The university is now saying that we have to book standing space, [and] that’s a dangerous, slippery slope to be walking,” Lobo said.
Lifeline had their club status taken away by Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) Nov. 11 due to conflicts between their constitution and CUSA’s policy on discrimination on campus.
According to Lobo, Lifeline has planned to appeal this discrimination policy to CUSA’s constitutional board with their lawyer present.
“People need to remember that the definition of discrimination is preferential treatment, and that’s exactly what’s happening with Lifeline,” Lobo said.