Sarah Marosi
Staff Writer
On Wednesday, Sept. 4, members of the student organization Wooster Scots for Life decorated the entryways to both Lowry Center and Kauke Hall with pro-life chalk messages.
According to the club’s website, it is “a non-religious, non- political organization that works to raise awareness for the pro-life cause on campus.”
By the following day, individual students had already taken it upon themselves to respond to the messages chalked outside Kauke by Scots for Life members, including everything from “Keep your agenda away from my body” to “Pro-Women = Pro-Choice.”
That Friday, a group of students responded to the chalk work outside of Lowry by writing over a Doctor Seuss quote, “A person’s a person no matter how small” with a giant “NO” covering the entirety of the original message. This was followed by the phrase “My body = My choice.”
Many students involved in Scots for Life, including co-president Sarah McCrea ’15, expressed outrage at the rebuttal from Wooster students.
“It was inappropriate for the students who disagree with our position to respond in the way they did,” she said. “Scots for Life is all about creating space for respectful, open dialogue about life issues and the students who drew over our artwork undermined that fact. I definitely believe that the rebuttal could have been done in a more respectful way. They did not have to take it upon themselves to ruin our artwork and attack our beliefs in the way that they did.”
Like at many liberal arts schools across the country, pro-life students at Wooster are greatly outnumbered by students who support abortion rights. In addition, regardless of the fact that Scots for Life’s messages were accompanied by doodles of flowers and smiley faces, and that their website repeatedly declares their non-confrontational stance, few would agree that abortion is an uncontroversial subject matter.
Gina Christo ’14, a founding member of k(NO)w, a student organization devoted to ending rape culture and sexual violence on campus, expressed concern for women on campus who have their own abortion experiences. “I found the random display of the pro-life agenda to be inconsiderate of students on campus who may have had experiences with abortion,” she said. “This is a touchy issue. If you’re going to throw it in people’s faces, people are going to throw it back,” she said.
Before a rainy afternoon washed away both the pro-life and pro-choice messages away, several prospective student groups visited the college.
Some students argue the rebuttal was a poor display of student behavior as it went against both the Center for Diversity and Global Engagement’s mission statement and Wooster’s core values, which advocate for “diversity in all its forms” and “independence of thought.” Others believe the chalk war highlighted Wooster students’ passion in their beliefs, and involvement in various forms of activism.
The College of Wooster is home to several student organizations that address women’s rights and reproductive rights, whether it be Wooster Scots for Life, k(NO)w, or Wooster’s VOX chapter, an organization associated with Planned Parenthood. Perhaps, from this informal anonymous public demonstration, a more formal discussion and debate can occur.
Photo courtesy Twitter