Notre Dame Anti-Military, Pro-Gay Protesters Let Go; Pro-Lifers Still Face Fines, Imprisonment

LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/22/10 | Kathleen Gilbert and John Jalsevac

[wagglebee]

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, April 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While numerous pro-life protesters who were arrested for trespassing at the University of Notre Dame last year continue to face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine, anti-military and pro-gay demonstrators who were previously arrested on campus had their charges dropped, according to a shocking new investigation by the Sycamore Trust. Furthermore, the president of the University, Fr. John Jenkins, has reportedly refused to discuss the disparate treatment.

William Dempsey, Notre Dame alumnus and president of the Sycamore Trust, notes in the organization's latest bulletin that Jenkins has responded to inquiries about the pro-lifers (who were arrested last May while peacefully protesting Obama’s commencement speech and honorary degree) by saying that, "The University cannot have one set of rules for causes we oppose, and another more lenient set of rules for causes we support. We have one consistent set of rules for demonstrations on campus – no matter the cause."

While Notre Dame does not have power to drop the charges, the University's recommendation to dismiss would likely carry great weight with the St. Joseph County prosecutor.

Dempsey says that "we doubted that any organization would saddle itself with such an inflexible policy." Hence, his organization set about investigating how past trespassers have been treated.

It turns out that members of the pro-gay group Soulforce, and Catholic Worker anti-ROTC demonstrators, who were arrested for trespassing on campus in March 2007, were let off scot free. Dempsey says that he interviewed participants in each case, who "all state that, after they were taken into custody and processed on the campus, they were released and heard nothing more." It is unclear whether the decision not to pursue the cases further was made by the university or the district prosecutors, although the Trust suggests that it originated with the university.

Having related the information to Notre Dame, says Dempsey, a spokesman replied that "this exchange is no longer serving any purpose from our perspective, and, as a result, we have decided to discontinue communications with you on this topic."

After writing Fr. Jenkins, the Trust reported that "his brief response was not encouraging."

"He seconded the spokesman’s termination of the discussion and he characterized as 'not warranted' unidentified 'inferences' and 'assumptions' in Bill Dempsey’s wide-ranging exchanges with the University spokesman, but he did not dispute the facts respecting the Soulforce and Catholic Workers arrests."

"The stark facts, then," the Trust alleges, "are that the University has treated pro-gay and anti-military demonstrators far more generously than pro-life demonstrators and that it declines to explain why.

"The mystery of the University’s attitude toward the pro-life demonstrators deepens."

The bulletin further points out how the prosecution of the pro-life "Notre Dame 88" can and already has wreaked havoc on the defendants' lives, even prior to sentencing: the Trust reports that one defendant and her husband have already been declined as foster parents thanks to the trespassing charges.

"The University’s position is bewildering, for there are many compelling reasons for the University to recommend to the prosecutor that he drop these cases," notes the group. "The University’s stance obviously impairs Father Jenkins’s post-Obama efforts to shore up Notre Dame’s pro-life credentials. The demonstrators are intensely dedicated and include many notably sympathetic individuals."

"The question, then, is why the University persists in endorsing these prosecutions."

 

To sign a petition to free the ND 88, click here.

For University of Notre Dame contact information, click here.

See recent LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Notre Dame Releases New Pro-Life Statement after Obama Dust Up
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/apr/10041310.html

Document Reveals Inconsistencies in ND's Jenkins Claims on ND88
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10020811.html

Scheidler: Jenkins Remains Utterly Immovable on ND 88
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10012505.html

[MrChips]

And I spent years as a boarding school teacher in New England becoming ever more jaded as I labored over pointless recommendations while I watched countless legacy students getting into Ivy schools only because Daddy had the money and the connections. Not you, of course. But you might do well to envy a school with a chapel or two. Notre Dame has many. Oh yeah, Princeton still has one, I think, or has it been turned into a “health center?”

[MrChips]

That is your misfortune.

[Albion Wilde]

I paid for my Ivy education myself from the profits from my own business. My father was an orphan and my mother the children of orphans, one of whom was illiterate; they did not pay for my education.

You need to stop defending the indefensible by defaming other FReepers who are legitimately bemoaning what has become of what was once a great university, Notre Dame, that is now openly supporting abortion, homosexuality and the entire Marxist agenda. Your tantrums about your father’s day have failed to advance the real discussion.

[don-o]

Bump

[MrChips]

I did not accuse you, personally, of being born with a silver spoon. I will continue to defend Notre Dame, one of the finest institutions in the world, in the face of those who comdemn entire institutions, and all of the people associated with them, on the basis of disagreement with the misguided decisions of a few.

[wagglebee]

I did not accuse you, personally, of being born with a silver spoon.

I was, so what?

I will continue to defend Notre Dame, one of the finest institutions in the world,

I've been involved in well over a hundred of these Notre Dame threads over the past year and I don't recall ANYONE claiming that it is not a fine academic institution, but so are Harvard, Yale, Princeton and a whole bunch of other schools.

face of those who comdemn entire institutions, and all of the people associated with them,

I haven't seen this either.

on the basis of disagreement with the misguided decisions of a few.

We aren't talking about the misguided decisions of a few, we are talking about the deliberate decision of the President of Notre Dame to allow the most pro-abortion president in American history to give the commencement address, a decision that was denounced by dozens of bishops and also resulted in the loss of a lot of financial support from alumni.

[MrChips]

I did not say it was one of the finest institutions only in academics. Those are your words. My words about chapel vis a vis Ivy schools made that point sufficiently. Your own words applauding ND alumni withholding finances would seem to reinforce it. And the President of the University isn’t even “a few”. He is one man. Attack him all you want. I was never at any point in this discussion defending him, but only the institution, itself, wholescale attacks upon which were, indeed, the beginning of my defense. Never the President of the University, much less the President of the U.S., whom I hold to be worse than a poisonous snake.

[wagglebee]

My words about chapel vis a vis Ivy schools made that point sufficiently.

I would be inclined to agree that much of Notre Dame's faculty consists of fine priests. IIRC, there was an "alternate" graduation held last year for those students who were unwilling to participate in the Obama lovefest.

Your own words applauding ND alumni withholding finances would seem to reinforce it.

Reinforce what?

And the President of the University isn’t even “a few”. He is one man. Attack him all you want.

He was the ONE MAN who initiated the invitation and could have uninvited Obama at any time.

I was never at any point in this discussion defending him, but only the institution, itself, wholescale attacks upon which were, indeed, the beginning of my defense.

As I said, in all of the threads I don't recall any condemnation of the University, all of the anger was directed at Jenkins and the Board.

[Albion Wilde]

I will continue to defend Notre Dame, one of the finest institutions in the world, in the face of those who comdemn entire institutions, and all of the people associated with them, on the basis of disagreement with the misguided decisions of a few.

People who obsessively cling to "their" off-target point when the thread is about something else are known as "hijacking the thread"; but go right ahead -- don't let me stop you.

I think if you were to meet any of us personally, you would find us more sympathetic than you realize to your need to cling to the reflected glory of ND through your father. But we would probably also pray for you to get your own life.

By the way, it wasn't just Fr. Jenkins who made the decision to let these travesties go on at ND. There is an entire staff of Fellows of the University, the Board of Trustees, Officers, Deans and University Committee Chairs involved in decision-making. Obviously, the majority are siding with Jenkins.

[MrChips]

Enough! Go Irish!