Posted on 01/30/2009 2:00:24 PM PST by wagglebee
Contact: Kortney Blythe, Director of Campus Life Tours (CLT), Survivors, 704-778-2702, campus@survivors.la
FAIRFAX, Virginia, Jan. 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- On January 26, 2009, two college-age members of the Survivors Campus Life Tour were arrested at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, while distributing literature on the public campus.
From the time of their arrival on campus the group quietly held signs, distributed literature and peacefully dialogued with students. When a student complained about the pro-life presence on school, an officer asked the Survivors to leave the campus. When members of the Campus Life Tour refused to stop their free speech activity and leave the public school property, the two team members handing out literature to students were handcuffed and arrested. They were charged with causing a disturbance, although the police later described the group as polite, well behaved, courteous, and respectful.
Kortney Blythe, director of Campus Life Tours for Survivors states, "My team members were peacefully exercising their free speech rights. To deny them that right is unconstitutional and is nothing more than content-based viewpoint discrimination. I find it unethical for the college and the police to arrest people for simply exercising their rights to free speech. No matter what the subject, the Constitution guarantees the right to free speech and no school administrators should ever be allowed to take that right away simply because they don't like the message."
Cristianna Cherf, 21, one of the team members who had been arrested commented, "I feel like these arrests are unfortunate because my mission is to reveal the truth of abortion, not to fight for my First Amendment rights. The right to free speech is a rudimentary right that every American should be able to exercise with confidence. It saddens me that so much of my time was consumed with my most basic rights being violated and infringed upon, when I was there to peacefully and respectfully educate students on the abortion debate."
Campus Life Tour is a pro-life campus outreach project of Survivors. The team of young people travel throughout the United States with educational displays designed to introduce the abortion debate to high school and college campuses. For more information about Survivors, visit www.survivors.la.
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If they were handing out literature on how Obama is the messiah, they would be institutionalized.
“By any means necessary” is the rallying-cry of the communist. They’ve taken over College campuses and are exercising their power to fight for pure evil.
Every G-d-fearing American should be disgusted at how low this country has gone.
More of the “change” we were promised.
Oh yes change...we now have FREEDOM OF SILENCE
Lawsuit.
Pro-Life ping
I think these students would own the campus if they brought suit. If we don’t force these institutions to change, they won’t.
Isn’t this Walter Williams school?
Yes.
SUE!
Used to be . . .
That sucks. I sent National Right for Life a check this morning as a matter of fact.
That type of policy serves well when you have serious problems on campus. People who are violent, loud, rude, physically or verbally abusive, or causing public disruption, should be rousted per this concept.
All sorts of causes congregate on college campuses though, and they are not limited to students.
If these folks were low key, courteous, and respectful of the campus officers, there was no justification for removing them.
All these kids would have to do is take photos of other groups congregating on campus. They would have a slam dunk case.
We have gone to UCLA on occasion to protest on campus. We are low key and courteous, but we get our point across and aren’t tossed out.
And they will be persecuted for their beliefs. They will come to having to meet in two’s or three’s under cover of darkness and hiding, away from their evil masters. They will come to develop ‘sign’s’ between them so that they can recognize one another. A familiar pattern......
Very true!
"We have gone to UCLA on occasion to protest on campus. We are low key and courteous, but we get our point across and aren’t tossed out."Precisely why I feel so cautionary in instantly condemning George Mason U. without knowing more of the facts. I have known some "Young Pro-Life Activists" who, in spite of their "Christian" beliefs, can behave quite boorishly.
That’s fair. If the kids were causing problems, I don’t have a problem with them getting the boot. I just wonder if it wasn’t some die-hard women’s rights loon throwing her weight around. We’ll see if anything comes of it.
Take care.
“Lawsuit.”
I certainly hope so.
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