Petition calls for reproductive freedom club
CSB senior Sydney Richter started the petition to create the club. The club has been denied in the past.
Students for Reproductive Freedom is a new club being proposed on the CSB and SJU campuses.
Sydney Richter, CSB senior, started a petition for students to see who would be interested in this club. Richter said that a club for reproductive freedom is something she has always been interested in helping start at CSB+SJU and that the Supreme Court’s decision in “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization” promted her to take action.
“With the ‘Dobbs’ decision that happened this summer, it made me think about this idea more and made me realize we needed to do something,” Richter said.
She points out that this club would want to focus on education and advocacy for reproductive freedom and create an open space for students to have dialogue about the topic, enabling everyone to feel free to express themselves without judgement.
To be considered a school-sanctioned club, clubs must complete a New Club Recognition Process. This is where students propose the idea and potential of their club. Eligibility of a new club depends on the mission statement provided, club constitution, advisor and institutional policy.
A petition was created by Richter to see who on campus would be interested in a club based around the idea of reproductive freedom. At the time of this article, the petition has received 111 signatures and includes 98 Bennies and 13 Johnnies from all four years.
“We are excited to work with the administration on creating a constitution that stays true to the vision of the club while also keeping the Catholic tradition in mind,” Richter said.
According to the CSB+SJU website, clubs must have a mission statement that is consistent with the Catholic and Benedictine tradition that the institution holds. The Catholic Church has an anti-abortion stance that goes back to the early centuries of the church.
“This is not strictly a St. Ben’s and St. John’s idea, but the Catholic Church. As we are a Catholic institution, we must follow much of the values of the Catholic Church,” Assistant Provost Mary Geller said. “However, that does not mean that we do not support these students.”
This is not the first time that students have made an effort to create a pro-choice club on campus. In the spring semester in 2016, then CSB senior Anne Gleich and then SJU junior Matt Rengo created a proposal for the creation of the club. The proposal was denied by administration due to the same reason.
Even if this club does not get approved to be an official school club, there is the potential for students to gather independently and have open dialogue about reproductive freedom. This would mean that club funding for events and more would not be provided by the institution.
“We are here to love and embrace our students. However while we do this, we have to uphold out Catholic tradition and values,” Geller said.
