Really??
Were you there??
I was.
My thoughts exactly.
I’ll address BobCatholic’s post point-by-point.
No, Notre Dame allowed the pro-Obama demonstrators free reign while imposing restrictions on the pro-lifers.
Define “free reign”. I saw nary a pro-Obama demonstrator on-campus; I saw thousands of pro-life demonstrators.
I read in the South Bend Tribune that pro-Obama, pro-choice, and even communist protesters gathered along Angela Rd., across from the main gates of ND where pro-lifers gathered–but that area is public property and they violated no trespassing regulations by gathering there. If you’re going to claim that ND engaged in viewpoint discrimination in arrests, then you need to find out if anyone who gathered in that area off-campus was arrested (they weren’t) AND if any pro-Obama demonstrators trespassed on campus (they didn’t).
Pro-lifers had to go to this one location, (to the back of the proverbial bus) and follow very strict rules while they let the pro-Obama demonstrators do what they want.
Not really. ND Response activities were held continuously from 10pm Saturday evening through 4pm Sunday afternoon at a variety of campus locations: the Grotto, Alumni Hall Chapel, and South Quad. There weren’t really “strict” rules regarding participation in ND Response’s events; there wasn’t close supervision by NDSP of the goings-on, and no one felt like they were tiptoeing around protesting, attempting to avoid arrest.
As I’ve said before on this thread, as a graduating student and member of ND Response, I felt that the administration went to great lengths to accommodate ND Response’s activities, rather than inhibit them. We were given no trouble in receiving permits to invite thousands of outside protesters on campus, during Commencement, when the administration had to worry about security and hosting the president of the United States. They allowed ND Response to simultaneously occupy both South Quad and the Grotto, and to erect a large stage, video screens, and sound systems in two locations. They allowed Mass to be held for a group which was unrelated to the many Commencement activities taking place that day. And it all ran really smoothly, from my perspective at least.
It is called a double standard. It was impossible for pro-Obama demonstrators to be “trespassing” for ND gave them free reign. That’s why none were arrested.
Again, do you have any proof that the pro-Obama protesters were ON CAMPUS? I did not personally witness any of them, and none of the news articles I read after the event said that they were on campus, but rather gathered outside the gates where they were free to congregate.
pro-lifers were permitted NO signs. Were the pro-Obama types carrying signs? Witnesses said “yes” - yet none of them was arrested.
Your facts are wrong here. Pro-life demonstrators who came on campus for the ND Response activities were asked, by ND Response, not to bring signs with graphic abortion images on campus for the activities, because it was a family-friendly event with many children. I saw demonstrators with many other signs (critical of ND and with other pro-life slogans) gathered on campus, and the graphic images stayed along the streets around the perimeter of campus. There are photos to document this.
And again, I saw no pro-Obama signs on campus whatsoever. The only group holding pro-Obama signs were gathered along the streets where they thought his motorcade would be passing–which were all public streets and where they were not trespassing.
Same thing about T-shirts. pro-lifers were not permitted those who blasted Obama. But pro-Obama types, sure! They can do that.
Again, facts. The fact is that I saw many pro-life t-shirts blasting Obama and ND–worn by protesters on campus.
And there’s the permitting process. Pro-lifers got a restricted permit while the pro-Obama types had more open permitting.
Do you have any proof whatsoever that pro-Obama demonstrators receiof ved a permit to protest on campus? Honestly, in all charity, you don’t seem to know what you’re talking about here: what was involved in the protests, why a handful pro-life protesters were arrested (for trespassing onto ND’s campus), or what was involved in the permitting process.