November 18, 2010
Ruth Lobo, President of Carleton Lifeline
Students for Life of America and National Campus Life Network launched a new website today, StandWithCarleton.com, to assist the Carleton University Student group, Carleton Lifeline, in Ottawa, Canada, who are facing discrimination from their school’s administration and student union.
Upon launching the website, Kristan Hawkins Executive Director of Students for Life of America said, “I am excited to launch this new site so that we can raise awareness about the situation at Carleton University and to also show our support for Carleton Lifeline’s courageous pro-life work. Carleton is discriminating against pro-life students, period. Pro-life students in America and around the world stand in solidarity with the Carleton pro-life students today.”
Carleton Lifeline was notified that the school Student Association would be decertifying the group in less than a week, on November 18th, unless they renounce the pro-life beliefs expressed in their group’s constitution. The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) is using the school’s “Discrimination on Campus” policy, which upholds “a woman’s right to choose,” to justify discriminating against the pro-life student group. Read more from the students here.
This announcement comes after five students were arrested last month while attempting to put up a pro-life display on their campus.
If Carleton Lifeline loses their official group status, it would be a significant loss and would hinder their activities on campus by denying them the student space, resources and funding that all other clubs have access to.
Ruth Lobo, Carleton Lifeline’s President, recently sat down for an interview with Kristan Hawkins to talk about the student pro-life movement in Canada and the situation at Carleton. You can listen to the interview here.
The website, StandWithCarleton.com, is co-sponsored by National Campus Life Network, Law Students for Life, Students for Life of Illinois, Rock for Life, and LifeNews.com.
To speak with Kristan Hawkins, please contact Mary Powers at mpowers@studentsforlife.org or phone: 703-351-6280.
For more information on the Carleton situation or discrimination against pro-life university students in Canada in general, please contact Rebecca Richmond, Executive Director of National Campus Life Network at 416 388 0461 or at director@ncln.ca. For more information about Carleton Lifeline you can visit their website.
National Campus Life Network (NCLN) is the national organization in Canada that works to educate, network and support pro-life campus groups across the country.