Free Speech vs. Freedom of Choice: Gruesome Demonstrations and Interest Groups on UNC’s Campus
The Genocide Awareness Project made UNC a stop on its national “tour” (Image)
UNC students are no strangers to controversial demonstrations on campus. The University has continuously protected the rights of many different interest groups to organize and promote their messages to students. In the past two years, the frequency of these demonstrations has increased since the toppling of Silent Sam, with many neo-Confederate groups coming to Chapel Hill to call for its restoration. The presence of these groups prompts students, faculty, and other university affiliates to question if protecting their free speech threatens campus safety. The recent demonstration by the Genocide Awareness Project, an anti-abortion organization, reignited the debate about free speech on campus and how far the protections afforded by the university under the First Amendment should extend.
On Oct. 18, all UNC students received an email from Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert Blouin regarding the presence of Genocide Awareness Project members on campus the following week. According to the email, demonstrators planned to display a “large format anti-abortion photo exhibit as part of a national tour of college campuses.” The email went on to explain that since UNC is a public university, interest groups are allowed to gather on campus and are afforded protections by “the First Amendment, the North Carolina Restore and Preserve Free Speech Act and the UNC System Board of Governors policy on free speech and free expression.”
The email did acknowledge the student response to the GAP’s previous visits to campus last year, as some found the images displayed by the demonstrators highly disturbing.
On Oct. 21, the demonstrators set up a display of graphic images of aborted fetuses, hoping that the shocking nature of the images would change the opinions of pro-choice college students. The signs displayed messages with slogans comparing abortion to child abuse and calling the termination of a pregnancy “the insanity of choice.” The most controversial signs likened abortion to the mass murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust and the lynching of black Americans in the 20th century. Additionally, another sign claimed abortion is a reason for the underrepresentation of the black vote in American elections, implying that many abortion patients are black and the birthrate of this demographic is in decline. A 2014 study by the Guttmacher Institute invalidates this argument, as no racial group comprised a statistical majority of abortion patients that year.
In an interview conducted by UNC student Iyana Jones-Reese, one of the GAP project demonstrators claimed that their main goal in coming to campus was “to show people that abortion decapitates and dismembers little human beings.” He added that most people do not fully realize the violent nature of abortion or understand the extent of the development of the fetus at different stages of pregnancy.
The arguments of the Genocide Awareness Project volunteers, especially their statements on the Holocaust and racial issues, were received with a mixture of confusion and anger by UNC students.
Sophomore Erin Campagna participated in the counter-protest of the demonstration that formed on Polk Place. She claims that “their comparison of abortion to genocide is incredibly offensive to any community that has actually been the target of genocide. Their fake images of supposed aborted fetuses are incredibly triggering and it isn’t fair for students to be forced to look at them.” The medical accuracy of the images was a main point of criticism of the display, as they were meant to be over-the-top and disturbing to serve the purpose of the Genocide Awareness Project volunteers.
Despite the negative reactions from UNC students, the Genocide Awareness Project posted the following claims about its tour of college campuses on its website:
“Pregnant college students frequently change their minds about aborting their babies after viewing the display and interacting with the CBR staff and volunteers who dialogue with students around the display. After one visit to the University of Tennessee CBR was told of eight women who changed their minds about terminating their pregnancies.”
Given its track record, the university will likely remain steadfast in its protection of free speech when future demonstrations occur. The politically charged atmosphere on campus makes UNC a target for interest groups, and counter-protests surrounding highly contested issues are sure to erupt. Ultimately, students are hoping for an improved balance between free speech and campus safety going forward, as controversial demonstrations spark anxiety that violence may occur.