A banned anti-abortion group has been re-certified as an official club under the Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) new policies.
Carleton Lifeline is active and has about 15 members, Carleton Lifeline president Taylor Hyatt said.
In 2010, Carleton Lifeline members displayed graphic images of aborted fetuses on campus and compared abortion to the Holocaust.
University administration denied the group permission to set up in the quad, and were instead asked to set up in Porter Hall, with a table in the atrium to direct students to the display if they wanted to see it.
However, five Lifeline members tried to set up their display in the quad. They were escorted off campus by Ottawa police and charged with trespassing.
CUSA revoked Carleton Lifeline’s club status and funding on Nov. 11, 2010, because the group’s mandate went against CUSA policy. At the time, the student association was constitutionally a pro-choice organization.
Hyatt said all of her anti-abortion activism has been off campus until CUSA council voted to change its discrimination policy on Dec. 12, 2012 allowing Carleton Lifeline to apply for re-certification. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences councillor and Carleton Lifeline member Vanessa Ebuka introduced the motion.
Hyatt said the group will apply for funds from CUSA in the next couple of weeks.
She said the group may use graphic images to promote their cause again, but Carleton students will not be seeing see such images any time soon.
“Although we still believe graphics is an important strategy, we don’t want to put something that is so sensational out there, without giving the Carleton community enough time to adjust to our presence,” she said.
Worried that disturbing images might push them “back to square one,” Hyatt said the group is more concerned with organizing events. She said the group hopes to attract more members in the next few months with film screenings and by teaming up with campus Christian organization, Power to Change.
“You don’t shock people just for the sake of shocking them,” she said. “But at the same time, how many people really get to hear what it is that abortion does? It dismembers, disembowels, and decapitates a living human being before they’re born, and a lot of people don’t know that.”
Groups cannot display posters that go against the students’ rights and responsibilities policy, said student affairs director Ryan Flannagan.
“We respect CUSA’s decision to change the language in their policy that allows Lifeline to apply for club status. Carleton is an open community that supports an exchange of ideas regardless of the medium that is being used. All clubs and students are welcome to participate in this in a respectful manner,” he said.
Carleton’s undergraduate student association needs to acknowledge all student groups, instead of just the ones that support CUSA’s opinions, said former Carleton Lifeline president Ruth (Lobo) Shaw.
Shaw was one of the two students arrested for trespassing in 2010. She said the new policy is a step in the right direction. She now works for an anti-abortion group in Calgary.
“I think it’s great pro-life students at Carleton will finally be able to express their views in a respected, fair manner,” Shaw said. “It’s always good to see progress made at your alma mater.”
