The College Fix

Administration: ‘Concerns coming from several places’

An abortion-rights student group at a Catholic university moved its event featuring a Planned Parenthood official off-campus after the school president intervened.

Law Students for Reproductive Justice, part of the Saint Louis University School of Law, hosted a former SLU law professor, Linda Raclin, to speak on “myths, truths, and facts” about Planned Parenthood. Raclin chairs the board of trustees for the abortion provider’s St. Louis affiliate.

Though SLU President Fred Pestello called the student group in for a meeting the day before its event, both event organizers and the administration have been coy about what was specifically discussed.

While each side says Pestello didn’t force the group to move its event, their description of the meeting suggests that the deck was stacked against the group.

“The decision to move the event off campus was made by the executive board of LSRJ after a thoughtful and honest conversation with President Pestello,” Sidney Watson, faculty supervisor for the student group, told The College Fix in an email.

Keri Smith, president of the student group, was more blunt, telling the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that if “we would’ve stood our ground the event would’ve been canceled.”

Pestello has not publicly commented on the event or the meeting, but university spokesman Jeff Fowler implied to the Post-Dispatch that its Catholic identity had much to do with the event being moved.

“A number of concerns were raised,” Fowler said of the meeting. “We are a university, a place where different points of view are discussed, but we’re also a Catholic university.”

Asked to elaborate on the meeting and what Pestello said, faculty supervisor Watson told The Fix: “The students made the decisions. In terms of Dr. Pestello’s concerns I think he is the one to ask.”

Spokesman Fowler did not immediately respond to a Fix inquiry regarding the meeting.

It’s also unclear how widespread the concerns were that prompted the meeting.

Watson said questions were raised “by some law students” regarding the event, but Fowler told the Post-Dispatch there were “concerns coming from several places” about the university hosting an event that featured the abortion provider.

Sarah Blackwell, president of SLU’s Students for Life chapter, told The Fix that “due to the complex nature of the issue, even within [our leadership] we hold differing opinions” on whether an abortion-rights event should be hosted by a Catholic university.

Talked about ‘threats’ against abortion provider since videos surfaced

Planned Parenthood has come under scrutiny in the wake of controversial undercover videos released this summer, allegedly showing its officials haggling over prices in the harvesting and selling of aborted fetal tissue.

The hourlong student event went on as planned last week at the Omni Hotel, including a 40-minute speech by Raclin, the current board chairman of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis.

Her speech, according to the event’s Facebook page, focused on the “current controversy surrounding the videos, political attacks, and physical challenges (threats, protesters, etc.) Planned Parenthood is facing,” and was followed by a 20-minute question-and-answer session.

Raclin taught at the SLU law school from 2007 to 2011 and is now an adjunct professor at nearby Washington University, according to her LinkedIn page.   

A small gathering preceded the event with around 60 students, the Post-Dispatch reported. Faculty and event organizers made the short walk from the law school to the Omni Hotel, with most holding signs reading “I stand with Planned Parenthood.”

Another sign read “Free Speech is good.”

Asked if the event’s relocation hindered free speech at the university, faculty supervisor Watson said she didn’t see it that way.

“Since they were still able to hold the event as planned, I would not characterize the event as a loss of free speech,” Watson told The Fix.

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