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Anti-Abortion
Demonstration Causes Frustration on Campus
On March 11, A.S. Student Trustee, Carl Poole, received a restive
call from Evergreen asking whether San José City College
was having a riot on campus. Although it turned out to be nowhere
near a riot, a demonstration by a small anti-abortion group caused
a lot of frustration among students and faculty. more...
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Anti-Abortion
Demonstration Causes Frustration on Campus
Ivan Nikittin
Managing Editor
Cody Kraatz
Assistant Editor
On March 11, A.S. Student Trustee, Carl Poole, received a restive
call from Evergreen asking whether San José City College
was having a riot on campus. Although it turned out to be nowhere
near a riot, a demonstration by a small anti-abortion group caused
a lot of frustration among students and faculty.
The group arrived in front of the Admissions and Records building
around 10 a.m. with signs and placards advocating a stop to abortion
practices. Some pictures that showed parts of a fetus’ head
being held by a pair of tongs caused a wide range of emotions from
frustration to anger among SJCC students. Some students were seen
crying.
Standing before these graphic pictures, Jason Storms, a demonstrator
from the faith-based group asserted, “This is a human being;
(it) should have the same rights of any other human being.”
The group, known as Survivors, protests against what they call “the
abortion holocaust.” According to their website, they target
High School and College students.
Poole and A.S. President Joseph Macedo called the event “very
upsetting.” Macedo felt that because campus was not notified
prior to the demonstration, nobody had enough time to make sure
that both sides of the issue were represented. The group arrived
at SJCC without any warning or consent from campus authorities.
“The goal was to cause a disturbance, not to inform,”
says Macedo. He says that the issue is very important, but both
sides had to have equal opportunities. “Campus should support
both sides,” adds Linda Rea, SJCC student.
The event attracted a crowd of about 60 people. Some of them were
watching in silence, others engaged in debates. One SJCC student,
on condition of anonymity, said that he was unconvinced by the pictures,
saying that they were “kinda nasty.”
Soon a group of unaffiliated SJCC students organized an impromptu
counter-demonstration on the other side of the square supporting
the pro-choice argument with hand-made signs. Mutual accusations
and arguing erupted between the two groups and lasted until the
pro-life activists left campus at 12:30 p.m.
Dr. Chui Tsang, SJCC President, said that he was on a meeting away
from campus when he heard about the event, and he had to come back
to take a look. “Apparently, this group came uninvited and
did not have a proper clearance ahead of time,” he said. He
also said that the group tired to provoke college personnel to arrest
them and to cause a public stir.
Nonetheless, the organizers were granted authorization to continue
the demonstration. “As long as they are not disrupting (college)
activities … we will allow them the display,” says Tsang.
He added that campus authorities and the police had to make sure
there was no violence.
The authorization came from Phil Renteria, Director of Campus Life.
He explained, “Any group can come on campus as long as they
fill out the proper paperwork.” They did in fact fill
out this paperwork the morning of the demonstration. Renteria
says that one form authorizes a certain space to be used for a certain
amount of time, in this case from 10:30 until 2:00 p.m. The
demonstrators left almost an hour and a half earlier.
In response to the graphic nature of the demonstration, Renteria
suggests, “We should have some dialogue about that. Is
it within the law?” Campus policy does not prohibit public
displays in demonstration scenarios, but the students were generally
offended.
Poole says that the protesters had “no consideration to the
feelings of people.” He added, “(They were) pushing their
First Amendment rights on top of other student’s rights.”
“We allow freedom of expression,” said Tsang. He mentioned
that there is a history of demonstrations on college campuses, so
it is not an extraordinary event. He emphasized, “We want to
continue that.”
Caption:Campus police officers stand by to ensure the situation
doesn’t get out of control as San José City College
students look at the anti-aboriton posters with disproof. Photo
by Eddie Rocha.
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