Scottish Catholic Observer

Catholic students at Strathclyde University say they feel ‘discouraged’ from attending the institution after the Student Union passed a blanket ban on all pro-life groups.

The ban was aimed at settling a long running dispute with a pro-life group—which was seeking to affiliate with the students’ association—but could also mean the Catholic society at the university is disaffiliated.

Mairi Hughes, president of the University of Strathclyde Catholic Association, said they ‘actively take a pro-life stance,’ which puts them in breach of the University of Strathclyde Students’ Association (USSA) guidelines.

“Both the Catholic and Islamic society have a pro-life stance and so the union is contradicting themselves in allowing them to exist and not a specific pro-life society,” the English student said. “There is definitely an issue there. If they’re being consistent and sticking to their guns I think they would need to ban both those societies and that would undoubtedly cause an uproar.”

She said that she ‘certainly feels discouraged as a Catholic attending a university where this is the case’ but ‘we would definitely take on the Union and probably take legal action to fight for our right to exist.’

Blanket ban

Minutes from a recent students’ association meeting said that ‘anti-choice groups actively use intimidation and fear tactics to harass people entering abortion clinics.’

“The establishment of anti-choice groups would directly contravene equal opportunities policy by giving them a platform to harass students,” it continued. “This in turn violates their ‘safe space.’”

The association then passed a blanket motion banning ‘anti-choice’ groups. Jamie McGowan, a Catholic student who is involved with the pro-life group, said the association’s decision to ban pro-life groups from affiliating was ‘deplorable.’

“Ironically, they will happily take positions on politics, but refuse to allow political debate and we feel this policy is a violation of freedom of speech,” he said. ”We think it is reasonable to be pro-life through medical and scientific facts. We believe life begins at conception so it is reasonable that we want to defend that right. It’s our fundamental human right to do so.”

He said the pro-life group had sought to affiliate in order to gain access to room hire and facilities, and said he fears the new ruling means the Catholic society could be disaffiliated.

“But there is a much wider implication here,” he went on. “The university claims to be a place where free thinking can happen, but there’s an attempt to just stop all debate on this issue.”

Freedom of speech

The president of USSA Raj Jayaraj said USSA’s pro-choice policy ‘now means that anti-choice groups cannot affiliate.’

“At USSA, all student views hold value,” he said. “We are a democratic organisation which seeks to represent the views of our students and currently, that is pro-choice.

“USSA fully supports freedom of speech and this group of students can still change the policy if they use the means available.

“We can understand that Students for Life feel strongly but they still have a number of avenues open to them. If they wish to pursue a referendum on the issue, then we would encourage them to do so.”

A spokesperson for the USSA said the new rule would not automatically disaffiliate the Catholic society but it could still happen if a motion was raised by students.

A Strathclyde University spokesman said that the matter is being dealt with by the students’ association. “When the appropriate students’ association processes are exhausted, any student may, if they wish, ask the University Court to review the decision taken,” he said. He added that the university was extremely proud of its ‘vibrant and diverse’ student community which includes people from nations across the globe, of all religions and none.

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—This story ran in full in the December 9 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.