Students form Coalition to protest Schlafly
Ben Sales
Issue date: 5/5/08 Section: @Press
After organizing at a meeting earlier this week, students have created the Coalition for a Responsible Washington University in order to protest the University's decision to award an honorary degree to Phyllis Schlafly.
Schlafly, a national conservative activist, will receive the award at this year's Commencement Ceremony on May 16.
The coalition has petitioned Chancellor Mark Wrighton to rescind Schlafly's invitation. In the event that the University stands by its decision, the protesting students plan to wear armbands to Commencement and to turn their backs to the podium when Schlafly is awarded her degree.
Schlafly's views, which the coalition calls anti-feminist, include denial of the existence of marital rape and objections to equal rights for women and homosexuals. The coalition says that honoring Schlafly with a degree is tantamount to endorsing those positions and does not serve to foster political dialogue on campus.
In forming the coalition, senior Lauren Bernstein says that students are legitimizing the protest and drawing the campus's attention to it.
"It's a way for Washington University students, faculty, staff and alumni to voice their opinions and come together to do what they can to revoke this degree," she said. "It gives us a way to communicate, to get people involved and to inform people."
Because of the limited time between the announcement of Schlafly's honorary degree and Commencement, one of the coalition's main goals is to educate the senior class--through Facebook groups, emails and word-of-mouth conversations--about Schlafly's views and why, according to the coalition, those views contradict the principles of the University.
Bernstein says, however, that the coalition's goal is not to interfere with the events of Senior Week or Commencement, at which activists plan to disseminate information about Schlafly.
"We're not advocating tactics that would be disruptive to the ceremony," Bernstein said of the planned protest. "We believe that seniors who are graduating deserve to have a good time. [Schlafly's degree] is a part of [the ceremonies] that is not positive and we want to recognize it."
Schlafly, a national conservative activist, will receive the award at this year's Commencement Ceremony on May 16.
The coalition has petitioned Chancellor Mark Wrighton to rescind Schlafly's invitation. In the event that the University stands by its decision, the protesting students plan to wear armbands to Commencement and to turn their backs to the podium when Schlafly is awarded her degree.
Schlafly's views, which the coalition calls anti-feminist, include denial of the existence of marital rape and objections to equal rights for women and homosexuals. The coalition says that honoring Schlafly with a degree is tantamount to endorsing those positions and does not serve to foster political dialogue on campus.
In forming the coalition, senior Lauren Bernstein says that students are legitimizing the protest and drawing the campus's attention to it.
"It's a way for Washington University students, faculty, staff and alumni to voice their opinions and come together to do what they can to revoke this degree," she said. "It gives us a way to communicate, to get people involved and to inform people."
Because of the limited time between the announcement of Schlafly's honorary degree and Commencement, one of the coalition's main goals is to educate the senior class--through Facebook groups, emails and word-of-mouth conversations--about Schlafly's views and why, according to the coalition, those views contradict the principles of the University.
Bernstein says, however, that the coalition's goal is not to interfere with the events of Senior Week or Commencement, at which activists plan to disseminate information about Schlafly.
"We're not advocating tactics that would be disruptive to the ceremony," Bernstein said of the planned protest. "We believe that seniors who are graduating deserve to have a good time. [Schlafly's degree] is a part of [the ceremonies] that is not positive and we want to recognize it."
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 10
aarondj
Stephen
posted 5/08/08 @ 1:19 PM CST
Graduation should not be turned into a spectacle by a few loud voices. It is far better than the ceremony goes to plan. Lauren Bernstein's statement that, "seniors who graduate deserve a good time" is an interesting one in light of her protest of Phyllis Schlafly. (Continued…)
Tom
posted 5/09/08 @ 9:54 AM CST
Women and Gender Studies is a Program, not a Department.
David Kaczmarek
posted 5/09/08 @ 2:03 PM CST
Schlafly and Matthews at commencement? Glad I don't have to be there and watch the fawning over people who stand in the way of equality and justice.
Shame on you Cancellor Wrighton. (Continued…)
Margaret Stokely
posted 5/09/08 @ 2:30 PM CST
Where were you erstwhile Protesters when Peter Singer was here?
He supports infantacide, I think up to the age of the terrible twos. Is that chronological age or maturity?
If we're talking maturity, this "kill for free zone" would include some of you Protesters languishing in arrested development. (Continued…)
Margaret Stokely
posted 5/09/08 @ 6:54 PM CST
Brian, please.
Singer was paid, as was Gonzales.
That is logic for you, irrefutable.
One could also say the same, "His speaking here was simply an attempt to further [the] state of polite discourse", of Gonzales' lecture. (Continued…)
Dr Mabuse
posted 5/09/08 @ 6:55 PM CST
As long as Singer "politely" kills children, then that's fine.
Gabriel ben Avraham
posted 5/12/08 @ 3:18 AM CST
I like to think of Schafly as an advocate of women's rights in much the same way as I see Heinrich Goebls as a scholar of jewish culture, or the old Bureau of Indian Afairs as an "affirmative action" agency for Native Americans, or the apartheid laws as "protective" of blacks. (Continued…)
Sturdy Vent
posted 5/13/08 @ 10:16 AM CST
Demonize and guilt by association. It sure works for the Left, eh? GBA, you "like to think" of all conservatives as fire breathing, bloodthirsty monsters, don't cha. (Continued…)
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