Pro-life groups banned from Scottish campus

A Scottish university student union has banned pro-life students from setting up an official campaign group on its campus, writes Brian Morton.

The University of Strathclyde Students’ Association (USSA) claimed that the establishment of “anti-choice” groups within the university would offer a platform for harassment of students seeking abortion or contraception advice, thus violating their “safe space”.

USSA has determined that Strathclyde Life Action will be denied affiliation. This means it would not receive any union funding and its events would not be promoted on campus.

USSA’s president Raj Jayaraj said that the decision was in keeping with the union’s support of freedom of speech. “All student views hold value,” he said. “We are a democratic organisation which seeks to represent the views of our students and currently, that is pro-choice.”

Mairi Hughes, president of the University of Strathclyde Catholic Association, said that USSA’s decision represented a clear contradiction. “Both the Catholic and Islamic societies have a pro-life stance and so the union is contradicting [itself] in allowing them to exist and not a specific pro-life society.” She added that pro-life supporters would pursue legal action.

A university spokesman said that the matter could only be decided by the students’ association but that groups or individuals could bring the matter for review before the University Court.