Pro-life chalking sparks campus-wide conversation

Chalking, a tactic often utilized by Viterbo’s student-organizations to relay information between themselves and the student body. As result of recent pro-life messages, however, students are divided on whether chalking is an appropriate method to voice these opinions and if changes are needed within Viterbo’s Freedom of Expression Policy.

On Friday, Nov. 8, the V-Hawks for Life wrote pro-life messages on Viterbo’s sidewalks. Soon after these messages were written, several students, representing the pro-choice movement, wrote counter messages adjacent to those displayed by V-Hawks for Life. From there, students began to deface the chalk they most disagreed with.

V-Hawks for Life’s messages included medical facts, a quote by Mother Theresa, citations from popular literature, and the phone number for Birth-Right, a non-profit organization that services young pregnant women. The content met criteria set in place by Viterbo University and was approved by Emilio Alvarez, director of campus ministry and V-Hawk’s for Life club advisor.

Many students, including myself, were unaware of V-Hawks for Life, what their mission is and how they contribute to the Viterbo community, prior to the chalking. Thankfully, Alyssa Weiss, junior nursing major and club president, was eager to fill me in.

Weiss began by stating the club’s mission is “Ultimately, we work to protect life from natural conception to natural death…Our goal is to support student mothers,” Weiss explained. “We volunteer for Birth-Right to ensure they stay open and available to mothers throughout the La Crosse community.”

The club provides service to young mothers in need of financial and emotional support. Weiss concluded that “Whether it’s paying for groceries, rent, gas cards, or diapers and baby supplies, we want to be there for new mothers.” It is easy to deduce this group is a resource for new mothers, but some question whether these pro-life messages were necessary.

“The question for me is, what was the purpose?” remarked Sister Laura Nettles, assistant professor of religious studies and Catholic-identity coordinator. “If it was to inform that there are men and women on campus that are pro-birth, then mission accomplished.”

Many pro-choice students viewed these messages as political-based and offensive. Nettles is empathetic to those upset; she can see how students could find them triggering, but she assured me the group did not seek to offend. “The messages were positive,” Nettles observed. “There was no condemning language or political language, example being ‘vote for candidate x, he’s pro-life,’ because the university does not condone that.”

So what was the purpose? According to Weiss, “This is an annual activity we coordinate; there is actually a ‘national pro-life chalking’ day. We were just a few weeks late to participate due to poor weather.” She said the “goal was to provide facts and resources for students to carry with them.”

Assisting Weiss in the chalking was Valerie Nagengast, junior nursing major, who stated, “Yes, I was nervous writing a couple of these messages, as I know there are those who disagree, but I would not have written anything that I felt could be taken as offensive.”

It is easy to deduce that the club did not intend to inspire the negativity they’ve received by the chalk. But for pro-choice students, such as sophomore music theatre students Alicia Pedraza and Braden Gere, the chalk was impossible to ignore.

Pedraza, in discussing her reason for the counter-chalk, stated, “We have a diverse campus, there is a large population of students who disagree with these messages and they were not represented.”

Though V-Hawk’s for Life did have the university’s permission, Pedraza and Gere felt standing up for pro-choice students was the right thing to do. “There are people on our campus who have had an abortion,” continued Pedraza. “Reading these would be undoubtedly upsetting for someone in that situation.”

Gere added, “We host perspective students daily on our campus; if someone witnessed these messages and they didn’t agree, there is no way they’d feel welcome here.” Gere expressed great frustration in conveying that “These messages could be interpreted as the general belief of all Viterbo students.”

Freedom of speech, something each person I interviewed agreed, justified the representation of the pro-choice movement on the sidewalk. However, it was the defacement of each other’s messages that inspired Tommy Krob, president of SGA, to take action.

“I saw the counter-chalking as fair, but it quickly became an antagonistic discussion displayed on our campus sidewalk.” In reference to an SGA meeting, Krob shared, “though we agreed these messages, on both sides, were not political, we felt it was not an effective use of our sidewalks.”

After further conversations with Sr. Laura Nettles, Richard Trietley, and President Temple, Krob expressed how he wants “this to be resolved without a policy change.” Krob pressed on the fact that “Any restrictions placed within Viterbo’s Freedom of Expression Policy, I feel, would restrict students’ right to free speech; though, we felt, chalking is a difficult way to voice their opinions fairly.”

Though there are no foreseeable changes to policy, there is much to come from the chalking. For Nettles, she rejoiced when she said, “I am excited to see open forums and an identities project come from this.” She concluded that “although it is strange that chalk is what spurred it, I think having conversation is just phenomenal. Having dialogue and listening to one another is what it means to be Franciscan.”