An Open Letter to University of Manitoba Administration

An Open Letter to University of Manitoba Administration:

I would like to make an official complaint regarding the recent display on campus by the group: "Students for a culture of Life".

I am deeply troubled and offended by their use of genocidal content in their efforts to promote their anti-choice views on abortion. Not only are the images extremely graphic, they are extremely offensive.

As a student currently enrolled in genocide studies, I am aware of the anti-scholarly and anti-intellectual nature of this type of dialogue. It is a feeble attempt at an over-used shock tactic. Furthermore, these images and the dialogue of comparing the Rwandan genocide with the topic of Abortion is extremely offensive as it minimizes the horrors of, not only the Rwandan genocide, but the atrocities of all genocides though out history.

Considering the sensitive nature of both the topic of abortion, and genocide, I would have expected a more appropriate, and intellectual forum that would not only take into consideration the student body and public who might view this display, as well as the appropriateness of such a display at a higher learning institution. I have to question the integrity of an administration that did not consider the severity of such a claim, and the possible effect it may have on those who have suffered the true horror of genocide, as well as the tremendous impact on women who are likened to a Nazi or a genocidal perpetrator.

The Genocide Awareness Program (GAP) is managed and produced by a privately funded organisation in the United States called The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform.  It is a movable display that has been set up on many campuses throughout North America since 1997.  Due to the controversial, inflammatory, and misrepresentative nature of the content, many campuses have banned the display, or, as was the case at the University of Alberta in 2004, the display was refused access to a high traffic area and was instead granted a private room in which students could enter and view the content on their own free will.  This was not the case at the UofM campus.    

While it is the right of groups such as "students for a culture of life" to hold their views, and run a student group, it is also the responsibility of administration to uphold a standard of sensitivity, appropriateness, and intellectual academia. The GAP display is not a forum of freedom, speech, and debate, but rather, a disturbing, disgusting, and demeaning use of shocking images that only serve to shock, terrorise, and traumatize individuals, while minimizing one of the greatest horrors created by, and endured by humankind.

I am calling on University Administration and UMSU to remove the student group status from the “Students for a Culture of Life” due to lack of ethical forethought.

Sincerely,

A “Student for a Culture of Academic Integrity”,

Wanda Hounslow