A small furor is brewing on campus over absolutely nothing. Here’s the quick rundown: The College Republicans and Justice For All, the student group opposed to abortion rights that brought the Genocide Awareness Project to the University last year, are planning a fundraiser for Womenspace, a local domestic violence clinic. The College Republicans asked the College Democrats and Students For Choice, a student group working for abortion rights, to cross ideological lines and join the effort. The two groups have said they will not help.
In short, this is nonsense. Of course the College Democrats and Students For Choice should help raise money to combat domestic violence and offer support to women who have been abused. Jed McGuire of the College Democrats suggested Monday (“Groups conflict over fundraiser,” ODE, Jan. 29) that the Republicans were trying to force the Democrats into participating in order to make them look bad. “I’m a little confused as to what [their] motives are,” McGuire said.
If the College Republicans’ motives are shaky, then why not participate, help out a very worthy cause and give the Republicans no ammunition? It would be petty of the Republicans to use the Democrats’ non-participation as partisan baiting, as they have said the fundraiser isn’t about politics. It would be even more petty of the Democrats to refuse simply because of politics.
All of this hubbub is silly and seems like a media stunt. Maybe that’s a good thing, because it will make members of student groups aware of the fundraiser. The College Republicans have said they will contact every student group and ask them to participate. Why doesn’t every group, including the College Democrats and Students For Choice, join in the effort and eliminate the “controversy” entirely? Imagine the goodwill if every student group made at least one phone call on behalf of abused women.
Womenspace has said that it hasn’t been contacted about the fundraiser and that it has to decide whether to accept donations. Margo Schaefer, community outreach director for Womenspace, said Monday that there is a limit to how far across ideological boundaries the organization can stretch. It would be terribly petty of the group not to accept donations solicited by hard-working students simply because of those students’ personal beliefs or politics. Domestic violence victims need support, and Womenspace wouldn’t be endorsing Justice For All’s opposition to abortion rights by accepting the group’s help.
We urge everyone involved to get their wits about them and stop this immature behavior. We strongly encourage every group on campus to make a few phone calls and help raise money for Womenspace. Finally, we hope that no one has to read about this issue again, except to find out how much money was raised for a worthy cause.