Conor Daly: All opinions are welcome at Penn -- unless you're conservative

On a typical 85-degree day at Penn in early spring, you'd find every square inch of College Green occupied with students content to wile away their afternoons, sunbathing on the grass in lieu of attending classes in the stuffy buildings for which this University has become infamous.

But this past Wednesday, some of the area's prime real estate was already taken up by the time the first arrivals of the habitual sun-worshiping class arrived in the waning morning hours. Taking up about 20 square feet of the Green was a mock cemetery, complete with perfect rows of clean, white crosses.

A relatively new student group, having only been founded last year, Penn for Life was there on the Green to make a statement. They set up the fake cemetery with crosses representing aborted pregnancies, tables and pictures of unborn fetuses. They put out flyers detailing their mission statement and arguments against abortion, because they feel their message that "we as humans should be pro-life in every life choice, from conception to natural death" is an inherently valuable one that has largely been absent from public discourse and debate on this campus, despite their efforts to rectify that.

They have tried for months to contact the Penn Women's Center in order to get permission to place some of their information there, but to no avail. It seems that the Center is content only making available Pro-Choice resources, its directors having ignored repeated e-mails from Penn for Life's leaders about the subject.

Thus, a demonstration on the Walk was a major chance for them to get their views into the open, so that an abortion debate on this campus, if one is to materialize, could have the potential to be fair and informed.

Knowing that a heated situation with dissenters from their viewpoint might occur sometime over the course of the day simply based on their presence, the group's leaders made sure that a Spectaguard was on hand just in case. That turned out to be an intelligent preparation, considering the abuse from passersby and protesters that faced them from the moment they set up.

The group's members started the day by taking clothes hangers off of the crosses, which someone had placed when they weren't looking, and continued through the afternoon enduring numerous profanities being hurled at them, as well other harassment, including vulgar comparisons to Brother Stephen.

The most common complaints I heard, specifically from some Pro-Choice advocates sitting amongst the crosses in protest, were that the display was "offensive" because the group was trying to force its "ignorant" beliefs upon unwilling students and that the group had no right to be setting up such a display because College Green is "common space for everyone."

These people were content with labeling the Penn for Life students as uninformed heretics to some sort of generally agreed upon set of values that our campus apparently collectively espouses. They rejected the possibility that some opposing political beliefs, albeit held by far fewer people at Penn, have validity. To that end, critics of the Penn for Life mantra condemned their demonstration without even recognizing that other student groups have made similar demonstrations and been spared the personal ridicule that assailed Penn for Life members.

Penn for Peace conducted a blatantly offensive portrayal of dead Iraqis last week in front of Huntsman Hall, and few batted an eye. Other groups have camped out on College Green for days in protest, and no one complained that they didn't have a right to use our "common space."

It may be true that on this campus, the majority of us (myself included) are pro-choice and adamantly disagree with the positions of Penn for Life, but it is wrong for us to shun those who do not share those same beliefs and attack them for holding their ideas, rather than respectfully attacking the ideas themselves. What is most important is not that we all value their viewpoints, but rather their voices.

No matter how soft, minority voices which speak up on politically charged issues like abortion are vital in our arena of political discourse on this campus because they ensure thoughtful and encompassing balanced debate. They offer us all an invaluable supplement to the textbook and classroom education we receive at this University.

It is censorship of groups like Penn for Life, and the exclusion of their materials from places like the Penn Women's Center, that we should fight. Because free expression, no matter how much we may hate our opponents' message, will increasingly mobilize us behind ours, making those sunny days sitting on the Green a hell of a lot more interesting.

Conor Daly is a senior Political Science major from Boxford, Mass.

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