Cardiff University Student’s Union are intending to censor pro-life students and groups by passing a motion calling for the university to be ‘pro-choice.’ The motion will be brought forward tomorrow evening, 21st November, at the Students' Union AGM meeting, and if passed will censor pro-life students and groups on campus by restricting their speech, expression and activities.
This is the Student Union’s third attempt to brand the university as ‘pro-choice’ and suppress a pro-life presence on campus. Cardiff Students for Life, the universities pro-life group, has the active support of many students at the university and their ability to continue is immediately threatened by the intolerant motion.
Stamping out the pro-life voice
SPUC described the motion as "undemocratic and a shameful attack on young students."
SPUC Deputy CEO, John Deighan said: "Universities should and need to be the very places where individuals can share their ideas, express their views and debate them freely and openly. The bullying approach adopted by the Students’ Union is part of the continuous onslaught to stifle freedom of speech and stamp out any semblance of a pro-life voice on campus. Not only does Cardiff Students' Union wish to censor those they disagree with, but they also want to prevent others from hearing reasoned opinions that challenge pro-abortion views.
"Ending innocent human lives can never be justified so censorship strategies have to be tightly enforced. It is sad that it is in universities where these enemies of freedom are flourishing. They are the petty dictators of our age, who with self-righteous zeal can tolerate no-one’s thought but their own.
"Universities are being tarnished and undermined by this anti-intellectual trend from an intolerant minority who strive to get positions of authority in student bodies to impose their views on everyone else.
"The student body is opening itself up to legal action for infringing the human rights of others and they also inevitably damage the reputation of Cardiff University."
Abortion rights are protected by law, as is the right to hold a contrary opinion
The situation has also been condemned by Cardiff’s University Chaplin, Fr Sebastian Jones.
He said: "This proposed motion, if adopted, would undermine the principle that Cardiff University is a place that fosters informed debate and discussion (however offensive another’s person’s opinion may be, under the Law of the Land, as long as that opinion does not incite others to violence it may be legitimately held and in a liberal society challenge and contradict held orthodoxies in open debate). Abortion rights are protected by law, as is the right to hold a contrary opinion.
"The right to freedom of expression is a cherished right that protects all rights however divergent. This motion would silence debate at Cardiff University, creating a culture which silences lawful dissent.
"This motion is illiberal, restrictive, prejudicial and will necessarily exclude the Students for Life Society from the campus, undermining the opportunity for informed debate and mutual disagreement among students on a matter of perduring importance."
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