Posted on 02/03/2005 2:37:14 PM PST by KidGlock
GOP fundraiser for 'Adopt a Sniper' shut down at college
The Associated Press Posted February 3 2005, 2:24 PM EST
MILWAUKEE -- Marquette University administrators shut down a table set up by the school's College Republicans this week to take orders for bracelets and other trinkets so money could be raised to buy special equipment for American snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Brandon Henak, the group's chairman and a Marquette junior, said the College Republicans chose to promote the "Adopt a Sniper" program based in Pulaski after their request for setting up a general "support the troops" table at the school's Alumni Memorial Union had been approved.
"We thought that it was the most direct possible way to help the troops," Henak said. "What really touched us and was one of the big deciding factors on choosing them was the fact that they give (the snipers) the very body armor that enables them to stay safe."
Marquette spokeswoman Brigid O'Brien released a statement Wednesday discussing the move taken Monday. It said the university strongly supports the U.S. military and has sponsored plenty of "support the troops" activities.
But Marquette leaders were unhappy they had not been told of the exact nature of the College Republicans' efforts, and the wording on some of the signs and the merchandise was bothersome, the statement said.
The university said one slogan was "1 Shot, 1 Kill, No Remorse, I Decide."
"In the context of the university's Jesuit, Catholic mission, we could not allow fund raising in the student union for a group whose rhetoric regarding 'snipers' could be widely misinterpreted as having a cavalier attitude toward the taking of a human life," the statement said. "In this case the display of the materials that promote the use of violence without appropriate background information was unacceptable."
Marquette Administration Suppresses CR ''Support Our Troops'' Table
MU shuts down 'Adopt a Sniper'- Student group calls school 'ultra-liberal'
"In the context of the university's Jesuit, Catholic mission, we could not allow fund raising in the student union for a group whose rhetoric regarding 'snipers' could be widely misinterpreted as having a cavalier attitude toward the taking of a human life,"
So they don't let pro-choice groups solicit on campus??
With all due respect to the Brothers & Fathers running that University, they might read the Church's direction on the notion of a "Just War". After they see the current conflict meets the definition, I would suggest that they donate to the cause.
Hey! Snipers are people, too!
They are free to be Jesuits or any other damned thing they please in a place where such freedom was bought with the blood of men who took up arms, left their homes and never came back.
"Cavalier" my bleeding arse.
Good question.
Personally, what I don't like, is that I don't think these kids were being genuine, this sounds like a cheap publicity stunt to get attention (granted, to an important issue), but using the image of men and woman overseas, to prove a point, and get "awareness" isn't right.
Are they punishing the speech or the sniper who will go without the proper armour?
This would bother me if it were a public university, but a Catholic university has a right to take this stand in keeping with their religious convictions.
I think you're right. "We don't like killing" aside, the college was within its right to object on grounds of bad taste. Snipers do their job because they have to, not because it's fun or glamorous to shoot people. "Adopt-a-Sniper" is fine, if a little odd, but putting up signs advertising "No Remorse" is beyond the pale.
These kids were obviously trying to be shocking just to stick it to the campus leftists kumbaya sensibilities. American Sniper sure as hell helped the people in Iraq more than the diplomats at the UN. I was the same way when I was an obnoxious College Repub. Actually I still am.
Its time for all conservatives to boycott sending their kids to collage. I mean whats the point of spending thousands since they are only going to get a Liberal brainwashing anyways
To Brandon Henak, Chairman of the College Republicans:
Congratulations on your creative way of being a pain in the butt to the libs at your school....
Many out here are sympathetic and would like to see how the left deals with the type of treatment they've been shoveling down our throats for 50 years...
See post #3
I saw that, but I don't know the answer to that. I agree that if they do allow it, it would show them to be hypocrites. And I understand why you ask; there are leftists in the Catholic Church (as in the Protestant movement; Tony Campolo comes to mind for evangelicals) that would use the Church's position on the war to camoflauge their true agenda: Anti-Americanism.
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