Student senator vandalizes pro-life cross display at Wisconsin university
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Student Senator Roderick King

Stevens Point, Wis., May 9, 2008 / 11:19 pm (CNA).- A “cemetery” of crosses displayed at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) to memorialize those killed by abortion has been publicly vandalized by a member of the student senate.

On May 1, at about 11 a.m., members of UWSP pro-life group Pointers for Life were repairing their “Cemetery of the Innocents” display, which had been defaced during the previous night.  A group of angry students, led by UWSP Student Senator Roderick King, began to walk through the rows, taking crosses from the ground and throwing them.

Part of the vandalism was recorded and posted to the video-sharing web site YouTube.

King reportedly complained that the pro-life group had “no right” to display the crosses, saying it was “his duty as a paying student” to take them down.

After a campus Protective Services officer arrived, most of the students who were vandalizing the display stopped. 

King, however, claimed “The freedom of speech does not cover these signs and symbols.”  When the officer warned King he could be made to pay for damages, the student senator stopped.

Bob Tomlinson, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at UWSP, apologized to Pointers for Life for the disrespect and vandalism inflicted by the opposing students.  Two student senators said the pro-life group had correctly reserved the space and were allowed to host the display.

In response to the vandalism, Pointers for Life filed a complaint with the Student Government Association asking for King to resign or be appropriately disciplined under the student government constitution.

In a letter to the Stevens Point Journal Newspaper, King explained his actions, saying he thought the display was “disrespectful” and that the university was “more than wrong” for allowing the display.  He said the Pointers for Life request for his resignation or discipline from the student senate supposes that he is “more than a mere student” who “should be held to different standards.”

According to King, the pro-life group’s grievance against him was that he did not represent the student body.  “On the contrary, many students agree with my actions,” he wrote.  He claimed their motive for seeking disciplinary action was in fact based upon their opposing views about abortion.

King insisted he did not act in the incident as a member of the UWSP Student Government Association, but as “an individual who believes one person's right to freedom of speech stops when it infringes on another person's right to a secular education.”

Jackie Kryzkowski, president of Pointers for Life, said, “Student Senators should be helping to defend our freedom of speech, not trying to take it away because of personal beliefs. If students had a problem with the display, they could exercise their freedom of speech maturely by protesting it peacefully, not by defacing our display.”

Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life of America (SFLA), said, “This is not the first time that a student group has had this same type of peaceful display vandalized or has faced discrimination on a college campus. SFLA is here to make sure all college pro-lifers are guaranteed their rights to demonstrate on behalf of those who have no voice.”

A video of the vandalism is viewable at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5NeLyMZUYM

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Subscriber comments:
Published by: Telemachus
Laramie, WY 05/14/2008 11:30 AM EST
They had permission, end of case.

Truly people, we should be thanking God that the secularists are making the mistakes they are making. Using modern communications technologies and techniques that they themselves developed, the radicals are being exposed more and more as the absurd and dangerous people that they are. Other examples include the Mormon defacement of a Marian Shrine, and the Ryan Sorba lesbian riot at Smith College.

Take hope even further. As more stories like this crop up, secularists will be forced more and more to look in the mirror and come to terms with their hatred of God, Christianity, and religion in general. Eventually, they may be brought back into the fold and can join us to defeat what they have supported. Pray for repentance, so that they may turn from their error.
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Published by: Edward Moul
Norristown, Pa. USA 05/13/2008 10:02 AM EST
Mr. King shows the typical ultraliberal attitude which The Univ. of Wisconsin has become famous for. He should be made to apologize, in writing,
punished accordingly, by any means necessary, and then dismissed from the school on a permanent
basis. If the same attitude had been shown towards an issue he believed in, heavan forbid, he and others like him would have been in an uproar. He
is simply another typical case of liberal intolerance, so typical in todays world.
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Published by: Louis
Singapore 05/13/2008 12:40 AM EST
Looks like Mr. Student Government needs to get a lesson on Constitutional Rights. Mr. King just seems like another close minded person who only repsects his own point of view. I think he needs to learn a bit more about freedom of speech before he opens his sophmoric mouth.
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Published by: phil floersh
tucson/az/usa 05/12/2008 11:06 PM EST
Wow! Freedom of speech.
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Published by: Kathy
Chicago Illinois 05/11/2008 12:21 PM EST
Why does King think that his freedom of speech allows him to destroy their display? He can set up his own demonstration across the street. Does he not understand that he is preventing the other group from expressing their views? It seems to me that he thinks his view is right and theirs is wrong and, therefore, must be prevented expression.
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Published by: Tim Martin
South Bend, Indiana, USA 05/10/2008 06:48 AM EST
What I find particularly disturbing about this is the quote where the student claims he is "an individual who believes one person's right to freedom of speech stops when it infringes on another person's right to a secular education.”

This cuts to heart of the matter: free speech is only free speech if I agree with it. This is trend is becoming more and more common on college campuses. University officials are becoming more and more reluctant to protect "unpopular" opinions on college campuses----speeches are forcibly stopped by protesters on a regular basis and campus security stands by and does nothing.

Future aspiring politicians often cut their teeth in university/student politics. It is looking more and more like fascism may be the trend of the future.....
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