Any Discipline for Students Who Vandalized Anti-Abortion Display?

It was an outrage. A bunch of feminist students, members of the campus group Empowerment vandalized an anti-abortion display on campus.

Even worse, in a huge display of chutzpah, two students bragged about doing it on Facebook, one in her own post, and another in comments to a post from the Young Americans for Freedom. One of the students admitted to a reporter that she had “tagged along” with members of Empowerment when they trashed the display.

Both the College Democrats, and the group Empowerment came out with statements supporting the vandalism.

Had any conservative group supported the vandalism of any leftist display on campus, the group would have been quickly suspended.

But what about the students who actually did the vandalism? Were they punished in any way? We have been trying to find out, and have been stonewalled by Marquette.

Starting on October 24, we have sent three e-mails to Xavier Cole, Vice President for Student Affairs, within whose bureaucracy discipline would be administered. We also sent him one Tweet, and sent an e-mail to Brian Dorrington, Marquette’s official spokesman.

From: John McAdams
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 2:52 PM
To: Cole, Xavier
Subject: Investigation of Vandalizing of Anti-Abortion Display

Hi, Xavier,

I’m wondering whether you can tell me anything about the progress of the investigation into the vandalizing of the anti-abortion display of Marquette for Life.

I’m sure you are aware of two students who have confessed to (actually bragged about) taking part in it. And further that one of those students told a local reporter that she “tagged along” with members of Empowerment, who did the vandalizing.

Regardless of whether you can comment on the investigation, I’m assuming you can answer a question of policy: will Marquette announce the results of the investigation and what punishment has been meted out to the guilty parties?

On the record (unless you tell me otherwise).

John McAdams
Political Science
Marquette Warrior Blog

@DrXavierCole Are students who vandalized the anti-abortion display being disciplined in any way?

— jmcadams (@jmcadams) November 18, 2016

From: John McAdams
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 4:15 PM
To: Cole, Xavier
Subject: RE: Investigation of Vandalizing of Anti-Abortion Display

Hi, Xavier,

I haven’t heard from you on this, perhaps because when you got it, there was no actual information you could share.

But now, I’m assuming that the case has progressed.

I’m particularly interested in knowing whether any discipline has been imposed on the students who engaged in the vandalism.

I would also be interested in knowing whether the student group whose members engaged in the vandalism (Empowerment) and a student group which explicitly endorsed the vandalism (College Democrats) have faced any consequences.

Again, on the record unless you tell me otherwise. I’ll most certainly be blogging about this.
John McAdams
Marquette Warrior Blog

Tue 12/6/2016 4:13 PM
From: John McAdams
To: Brian Dorrington

Hi, Brian,

Can you give me an official statement as to whether any discipline was imposed on the Marquette students who vandalized an anti-abortion display on campus?

I’m sure you are aware that Marquette’s silence on this will necessarily lead to the conclusion that nothing was done, and Marquette implicitly condoned the vandalism.

Interestingly, Penn State does take vandalism of a political display seriously.

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=8468

John McAdams
Political Science
Marquette Warrior Blog

12/14/16
From: John McAdams To: Xavier Cole

Xavier,

I still haven’t heard from you on this.

I’m sure you know that, in the absence of any comment from Marquette to the contrary, it has to be assumed that the students in question were not disciplined at all.

Some universities take attacks on speech seriously.

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/12/05/penn-state-students-fined-for-destroying-pro-trump-signs/

I hope to hear from you by the end of the day.

John McAdams
Political Science
Marquette Warrior Blog

Marquette has failed to provide any response.

The inference is obvious: the students have gotten off scott-free. Even if Marquette refused to reveal the identity of the students, they could explain what punishment has been meted out. But apparently, none has been.

Marquette has been pandering mightily to the campus leftists. One particularly egregious example was when both Michael Lovell (President) and Daniel J. Myers (Provost) demonstrated with students in support of the bullies at the University of Missouri.

As the links above show, Penn State was willing to discipline students who tore up Donald Trump signs. It’s ironic that Marquette, apparently, is unwilling to defend free expression on campus, and even to defend expression of the Catholic position on abortion.

Update

The vandals in fact received a minor, “slap on the wrist” punishment.

Petition in Support of Vandalized Anti-Abortion Display

From Catholics for Mission @ Marquette: a petition expressing support for the anti-abortion display that was vandalized by campus leftists week before last.

Astonishingly, two students who participated in the vandalism have admitted their actions on Facebook. It’s clear that the vandalizing was done by members of the Feminist group Empowerment, which issued a statement condoning the defacement. And the College Democrats (a group which traditionally has been more moderate than the hard leftists) has endorsed the vandalism.

All of which it is important for people to speak up and condemn the egregious attack on free expression.

Marquette College Democrats Not Allowed to Call Their Recall Walker Table a “Recall Walker” Table

Just a couple of hours ago we were in the Union, and saw a table the College Democrats had set up to collect signatures on a petition to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

But no sign said “Recall Walker.” Marquette’s Student Affairs office won’t let the group call the table a “Recall Walker” table.

It has to be a “petition signing” table

Why? The College Democrats were a bit vague on the bureaucratic logic behind this, but we suspect it’s because Marquette, as an institution, can’t engage in “electioneering.” We have blogged about this, and how Marquette has taken an excessively narrow and risk averse position on the issue.

Of course, not calling the table a “Recall Walker” table doesn’t change the fact that that’s what it is.

And indeed, student organizations have often, on this campus, engaged in electioneering.

Ian Jamieson, the person at Student Affairs who is responsible for this restriction, was not immediately available to comment.

When he provides us with an explanation, we will post it here.

But we have a hard time seeing how any explanation will be plausible (other than from a very narrow bureaucratic perspective).

College Republicans to Protest College Democrats Support of “Occupy Milwaukee”

Earlier today, we blogged about a plan by the Marquette College Democrats to drum up support for an “Occupy” event tomorrow under the Bridge at the library.

The actual “Occupy” event, involving leftists from all over, will be Saturday.

The College Republicans will be staging their own counter-protest nearby.

From a press release from the College Republicans:

Milwaukee, WI – On October 14, the Marquette community will see that not all young people believe in the victim mentality of the Occupy protesters. Members of the College Republicans at Marquette will be hosting an information table outside Raynor Library from 10am through 2pm in an effort to drown out those attempting to occupy America. The students will be promoting free market values, limited government, and exposing the lackluster, job-creating performance of the Obama Administration.

Professional protesters and freeloaders that make up the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to cities across the country. These out-of-touch demonstrators will be continuing their blitzkrieg on American values in Milwaukee on Saturday, October 14th. The College Republicans of Marquette will be making a stand to defend their turf.

So the College Democrats and the College Republicans will be simultaneously holding demonstrations a few paces apart next to the library.

Cool.

We expect everything to be perfectly civil, although a bit of good-natured badinage between the two groups would be entirely appropriate.

We would urge everybody who will be on campus tomorrow to drop by and offer your support to whichever side you happen to favor.

Even asking polite but pointed questions of the side you oppose is fine. But any incivility hurts whatever point you are wanting to make.

And besides, any uncivil behavior these days is invariably caught on video and shortly made visible on You-Tube.

But we don’t see any problems. We expect everybody to have a good time.

Marquette College Democrats Drink the Kool-Aid: Supporting “Occupy Wall Street” Event

From an e-mail to members of the College Democrats:

From: Heffernan, Erin
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 5:13 PM
To: LS-CollegeDemocrats
Subject: Occupy Wall Street event

Hey MU College dems!

Several things are going on this week you all should know about:

1. The occupy Wall Street movement is growing and Occupy Milwaukee is having their first protest this Saturday.

The Occupy Milwaukee’ movement has been endorsed by figures like Russ Feingold, Rob Zerban, the New York Times, and Nancy Pelosi. It is a great movement and we hope many of you can come out for the protest.

Here is a link for more information: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143038022460557

2. We are having an informational table under the bridge this Friday to advertise for the Occupy Wall Street event and to promote general membership. We need people to sit at the table in one hour shifts from 10am until 3pm. If you can make anytime at all during that period, please email us at: marquettedems@gmail.com

3. Once again, our next meeting on October 18th at 7pm we are holding e-board elections. If you are interested in running or voting you must come to the meeting in person. If you would like to run for a position you should also email a paragraph describing why you would like that position and what makes you qualified to us at: marquettedems@gmail.com. These paragraphs will be sent to the club to inform our member’s about each person running.

Here is a link to RSVP for the meeting/elections: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=247051955337218

And if you haven’t already:

Like us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marquette-University-College-Democrats/168055839891684

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/MarquetteDems

Thanks and have a great week!

Erin Heffernan
College of Arts & Sciences, ‘14
Secretary, College Democrats
Marquette University
erin.heffernan@marquette.edu

Historically, this is out of character for the Marquette College Democrats.

The organization has traditionally been dominated by students who were moderate liberals, not given to anti-capitalist rhetoric. And the reason for that has been that the College Democrats have been students with an interest in real-world politics: working on campaigns, interning on Capitol Hill, and so on.

You can be liberal and do that, but you can’t be extreme.

But now they are associating themselves with a bunch of air-headed, supercilious, smug, spoiled and not-very-bright people.

To the extent that the movement has a coherent message, it’s socialist.

But mostly it’s whining about the trials of privileged kids who can skip class, and who got to go to an expensive college because daddy worked for one of those corporations they are demonizing.

They feel put-upon because their Women’s Studies major doesn’t get them a good paying job. And they think it’s unfair that they have to repay student loans.

Thus it seems the Marquette College Democrats have lurched to the left.

[Update]

Rick Esenberg nailed the issue of the protests in a recent blog post:

The occupation protests are straight up demagoguery. The protesters are either incoherent (rants about “corporations,” “we are the 99%”) or call for incredibly stupid and destructive things (guaranteed “living” incomes or debt forgiveness.)

The protests are less about a program than they are about a psychology. They are fueled by the frisson of opposition and manned by the usual suspects. To be sure, there is real economic uncertainty. If you borrowed $100,000 for a degree in Comparative Literature, the prospect of paying it back with your earnings at Noodles is frightening. Unemployment is scary. Underemployment is frustrating and there is too much of both.

But the protesters have no solution. The “movement” largely reduces to a claim that other people have something that I want and should be made to give it to me. It’s easy to rail about a few people who are very wealthy but the notion that the nation’s economic problems can be solved by taking their stuff away doesn’t bear the slightest scrutiny. You can’t balance the budget that way. You can’t solve sluggish economic demand. Maybe the world would be a better place if Steve Jobs and Bill Gates couldn’t become filthy rich by revolutionizing the way we live and work, but I don’t think so.

There is a reasonable critique of government bailouts and the overheated financial industry but it’s a complicated one that can’t be reduced to narratives about greed (although greed is certainly part of the story) or unfettered capitalism.

I think that the occupation protests will wither away but expect continued emphasis on the class warfare theme by the Democrats and their allies. Without an unexpected economic turnabout, the President can’t run for re-election based on his record. He needs a scapegoat - someone to blame and somebody to fear.

Stubborn Mule

Health Care Debate on Campus Tomorrow Night

The Marquette University
College Republicans and College Democrats present

A Debate on
Wisconsin State Health Care

Tuesday, November 6
7:00pm
AMU 254

Featuring the following panelists:

Gerald W. Frye, President of the Benefit Services Group

Representative Leah Vukmir (R – Wauwatosa) of the Wisconsin State Legislature

Dr. Robert Kraig, Communications & Program Director of Citizen Action

Dr. Therese Lysaught, Associate Professor of Theology at Marquette University

Questions or concerns can be directed to:

Sarah Kirby, Director of Events and Education for the Marquette University College Republicans
sarah.kirby@marquette.edu
OR
Jason Rae, Chairman of the Marquette University College Democrats
jason.rae@marquette.edu

Kudos to both groups for staging this debate.

At Marquette, as at most universities, speakers and events tend to be one-sided and propagandistic. At Marquette, a leftist axis including the Office of Student Development, the University Ministry, Manresa and the Office of Mission and Identity is notorious for staging programs where competing viewpoints are not represented, and the purpose is merely to rally the troops behind “social justice.”

Social justice is always assumed (remember, these folks can’t admit there are two sides to any issue) to be the standard leftist agenda.

For whatever reason, the College Democrats are not part of this axis. Unlike J.U.S.T.I.C.E. they are not the pets of the University Ministry nor the Office of Student Development.

Of course they lean to the left (they are supposed to lean to the left) but their leftist politics is of a more open kind that is willing to engage the issues and debate the opposition.

They, of course, share this openness and sense of fairness with the College Republicans, and with the conservative Federalist Society at the Law School, which when it wanted to do a program on gun control went to considerable lengths to get good advocates on both sides.

So we have a bit of an irony here. When speakers and programs are arranged by Marquette bureaucrats, the agenda is one-sided and propagandistic.

When the program is arranged by explicitly partisan and ideological groups, both sides get heard.

It’s student tuition dollars not at work.

In Washington, What Doesn’t?

College Democrats Hold Iraq War Vigil

This afternoon, at 6:00 p.m. in the Westown Square, the College Democrats will be having a vigil to honor the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq.

The proceedings will consist of a prayer, and the reading of the names of those who have lost their lives in the four years of the war.

Jason Rae, Chair of the group, says the purpose is “not to ask for an end to the war” and it’s not a “rally against the war.”

(Of course, the College Democrats have every right to hold an out-and-out anti-war rally if they want to.)

Could the vigil be viewed as a form of anti-war propaganda? Sure, but if so, it’s a particularly sober, responsible and respectful exercise.

What the College Democrats are doing here contrasts sharply with the gang of anti-war hoods who ramsacked an Army recruiting center on Milwaukee’s east side.

Maybe the rhetoric coming for the Marquette administration about the value of a Catholic education actually means something.