Group distributes anti-abortion pamphlets to cars on campus

Sometime before noon on Monday Oct. 11, a third party, unaffiliated with the College, came onto campus and distributed flyers on the windshields of cars in the DC lot. The flyers have been attributed to the organization Defenders of Women. Attempts to find contact information for the group were unsuccessful, and the organizations listed on the flyer claimed to be unaware of the group.

At 11:24 a.m. that Monday, a Wellesley staff member informed the Campus Police of the leaflets, and an officer was dispatched to remove them. "It is not the practice of Wellesley College to allow leafleting on vehicles parked on campus," Chief of Police Lisa Barbin said.  

The bookmark-sized flyer had descriptions of abortions and fetal development, as well as the religious message, "If you have had an abortion. [sic] Jesus will forgive you if you ask Him."

Although the content of the leaflets was more inflammatory than most on-campus spam, the police say that has nothing to do with their removal, because, according to Barbin, the policy holds regardless of the topic of such papers.

Many students, especially pro-choice advocates, have objected to their distribution and are happy that Campus Police removed them.

"Whatever the pamphlet had said, I think it's inappropriate," Julia Probert '11, a pro-choice Massachusetts resident said. "I don't think it would be appropriate in someone's driveway and I think of Wellesley as my driveway."  While her own car is in the parking garage and she did not receive any of the flyers, the presence of an outside party on campus knowing where to go to effectively "spam" Wellesley vehicles is unnerving. Probert emphasized that the College should be a safe place, and these third-party flyers on private property make her feel like the close community is less secure than she thought.

Another senior had the same issue with the distribution of the flyers and praised Campus Police for their response. "Parking garages aren't political," Roxanne Solis said. "This is our bubble—stay out!"

Solis, a pro-choice Catholic who was raised an evangelical fundamentalist in Arizona, added that she believes the group was trying to do a good thing by informing the public, but simply went about it the wrong way. "I understand that they mean well…but this is just misdirected." She said that women do not, as the flyer implies, take the choice to have an abortion lightly. Other students thought the information they read was misleading.

Several students mentioned that the group in charge certainly has a First Amendment right to create these flyers (and indeed court cases in varying states support this process of leafleting). In fact, an old document from the Office of Student Activities promotes handing out pamphlets to recruit new organization members and spread awareness about a club and its activities. Some students even questioned whether Wellesley Alliance for Life (WAFL) could have been responsible for this, but the group seems to have disintegrated.

One pro-life student suggested that the objection to the flyers is not due to any invasion of privacy, but rather the content of the message. "If you disagree with it, [then] take it off your car and throw it away," Jennifer Marble '13 said.  As a conservative on a mostly liberal campus, she thinks the inflammatory language and stereotypes that this event prompted on the Community open forum only serve to further close people's minds. "There's no reason you should close down a mode of discussion," she said.

At the same time, she does believe Campus Police was correct in removing the flyers if they were in violation of any law. The issue, she said, is, if there were no violations, then why would Campus Police be involved at all? "All of these opinions are stifling the minority. I don't think there's any respect for differences of opinion for this kind of issue," Marble said. As long as the same policy applies to any type of leaflet, Marble has no issue with their removal.

When asked if there was or will be any attempt to find out more about this happening and those who distributed the papers, Barbin said, "There was never an investigation into this matter because it was not a criminal act."

Of course, a lack of police investigation does not mean a cessation of the student discussion, which (although it has seriously digressed) has now been ongoing for over a week.