ST. BONAVENTURE (Feb. 11) – St. Bonaventure University students recognize SBU for Life, the pro-life group on campus, but are unsure if a pro-choice group is necessary. No students have made progressions to start a club, and its funding may be controversial, students say.
SBU for Life co-presidents Martin Spear, a senior psychology major, and Taylor Janak, a senior education major, join with Fr. Peter Schneible, adviser of SBU for Life, to plan controversial yet respectful discussions where students are welcome to share their opinions. “We’re not going to judge anyone,” Spear said. “We want to get education through learning what students think the issues are.”
SBU for Life sponsors discussions about all forms of pro-life, including extremism, euthanasia, stem-cell research, death penalties, and war, said Spear.
“They say, ‘Tell us your ideas!’ It’s polite conversation, not ‘You’re wrong!’” said David Pesci, senior biology major and pro-choice advocate. “What I like about SBU for Life is they don’t say there’s only one way to do things.” Members don’t push pro-choicers away, he said.
Pesci hasn’t taken the initiative to create a pro-choice group because he doesn’t think it’s necessary. “We only need a pro-life group if the students want one, and no one’s stepping up,” he said.
According to Emily Deragon, vice president of Student Government Association, “If the [potential pro-choice] club went through the appropriate steps in order to become an SGA chartered club, they would be chartered. Though we are a Catholic university, we have to offer equality when it comes to social issues such as abortion.”
But it’s the idea that a pro-choice group would represent SBU that upsets pro-lifers, especially Schneible, who has advised SBU for Life for more than 20 years after taking the reins from Cosmas Girard, the original adviser.
“There’s a difference between debating and practicing,” said Schneible. He said he supports the discussions but would not be satisfied if SGA decided to charter the potential pro-choice club. “This is a university which upholds its Franciscan values,” he said.
Schneible said he would not want a pro-choice club to interfere with those values.
Spear is not against the idea of a pro-choice group, however. “What makes me angry is when people say they have no opinion about it,” Spear said. “That’s B.S. They’re uneducated. It’s college: Go out and learn something.”
Deragon said if students started a club on campus, they would have to go through a process with the SGA, including creating a constitution, providing a president and an adviser, and agreeing to a year of probation before they receive funding.
But a pro-choice group would probably receive no more than $500 a year, said Michelle McKernan, president of SGA.
McKernan said SGA receives approximately $233,000 in funds to support on-campus clubs. This past year, however, administration cut funds by $45,000, which went to the Richter Center, she said. The majority of the remaining funds go to the Campus Activities Board, which receives 46 percent, The Buzz, The Bona Venture, and intramurals, she said. The money left over is allotted to the remaining qualifying clubs on campus.
Eddie Lazzari, a member of SBU for Life, hesitated to accept the idea of a pro-choice group on campus.
“All Americans are created equal and entitled to certain inalienable rights… the first of which is life,” he said. However, his support of American liberaties led him to agree that he couldn’t stop people from assembling.
“But, as a private university, SBU has the power to approve or deny recognizing groups on campus. I don’t want to see my tuition dollars going to support [a pro-choice group],” he said. Lazzari said he hopes that if a pro-choice group forms, the university would politely request that the group wouldn’t be officially funded.
Thomas Topp, freshman biology major and pro-choice advocate, said he doesn’t agree with the funding of any controversial club on campus, which is the reason he wouldn’t start a pro-choice group. He said he doesn’t believe it’s the university’s job to make decisions on what groups can exist and which receive money. Additionally, he said he doesn’t care how religion affects groups on campus.
Topp also said pro-life groups restrict freedoms, and SBU for Life is “forcing women to have children under any circumstances.”
But Spear said, “It is not a battle between pro-life and pro-choice …but a striving for justice and recognition of the sanctity of life. There isn't an aggressor and a target, but simply a shout for those who are voiceless, including the unborn, depressed, elderly, and impaired, who are normally associated with issues like suicide, abortion, and euthanasia… We recognize that all forms of life are important and in need of protection.”
University clubs are places to learn, promote, and challenge ideas, said Pesci.
“As a Franciscan university, we have to be open-minded,” said Pesci. “Any group should have the opportunity to grow.”
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