A Letter to the Editor: Let the flyers be

On the evening of Sept. 15, I, along with another member of Spiders for Life, put up flyers in the women's bathrooms in Boatwright Library, Jepson and the International Center. By noon on the 16th, our flyers had been removed from all the library bathrooms.

I talked with library staff and they said they had no knowledge of our flyers being removed and confirmed that we were indeed allowed to put up flyers in the library.

So, on Sept. 21, I put up new copies of the same flier in the library and the International Center. Later that same evening, several had been torn down again. Since then, every time that our flyers have been torn down, I have simply put up more copies.

These flyers are not confrontational. They simply present the scientific facts of first trimester prenatal development along with two scientific pictures.

I was under the impression that the purpose of a liberal arts education was to develop our general knowledge and rational thought processes in a variety of subjects in a quest to become better learners and, hopefully, better people.

The mission of the School of Arts and Sciences is "to explore the liberal arts through intellectual inquiry, shared investigation, and creativity, thereby fostering a community whose members pursue knowledge for its intrinsic value and its contributions to professions, society, and the world." Since when does this include the cowardly removal of a student organization's flyers from the library?

Spiders for Life has the right to put up these flyers. Other groups do the same exact thing on a regular basis.

I have seen many flyers that advance views that I disagree with, but would never dream of removing them. The immaturity and underhandedness of this action is completely pathetic, especially at Richmond, an institution of higher education.

I welcome debate. In fact, I would have loved it if, instead of silencing our speech, the opposing party had put up a flier right next to ours.

The entire reason for putting up the flyers was to arouse interest, conversation and debate about the beginning of life. Yes, Spiders for Life is a completely pro-life organization, and I acknowledge that abortion is a very touchy and often deeply personal subject for many people. However, I had hoped that, as adults in pursuit of "knowledge for its intrinsic value," we would have been able to have a mature, open discussion about it.

Instead, one group's efforts to start a conversation are being squashed by those who are not brave enough to present their own thoughts on the topic. This should never happen at a university where the exchange of ideas, facts and knowledge should be frequent and desirable.

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." -- John Stuart Mill, On Liberty