By Alyssa Allemand
Edgewood College students are mobilizing for a meeting tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 6) with Edgewood College Interim President Sister Mary Ellen Gevelinger in an escalating battle over removal of a Planned Parenthood link from the college website in response to a petition from a far-right national student group.
Student anger about Gevelinger’s action roiled this week after Tradition Family Property (TFP) Student Action, a conservative Christian group whose stated mission is to “proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property,” claimed a victory at Edgewood because Gevelinger removed the Planned Parenthood link after a TFP petition signed by 15,746 people.
The Student Senate has now called on Gevelinger to publicly apologize for responding to TFP’s demands, and Student Senate President Sydney Wilcox has informed students there will be a “public apology” tomorrow, Dec. 6, at 12 p.m. in Sonderegger 108. However, Wilcox said Gevelinger did not state whether she planned to apologize. “There was some confusion on her part as to why an apology is needed.”
Student Senate Vice President Jordan Smith said Gevelinger should start with an apology. “Start with the apology, lead to the truth,” she said.
Wilcox said, “I am looking forward to hearing the statement that will be provided by Sister Mary Ellen at the forum. I’m interested in seeing what that dialogue will look like between her and students, and how this very, very important and critical issue is going to be addressed.”
For her part, Gevelinger said the Thursday meeting went well. “We had an excellent meeting with student leaders today as we prepare for a public student forum tomorrow,” the interim president said.
Wilcox Thursday gave Gevelinger a letter written with input from over 40 Edgewood students. The letter was sent to students via email Thursday afternoon and lists “demands of the student body and the importance of upholding and demonstrating our Dominican Values.”
Gevelinger: Senate letter contains lies
But Gevelinger said the letter Wilcox presented on behalf of Edgewood students included false information.
Gevelinger said she did order the link removed, but she called other information circulating on campus about the incident “lies,” according to Sean O’Brien, the president of SAFE and a student who met with Gevelinger Thursday.
O’Brien said Gevelinger opened the Student Senate letter at their meeting Thursday afternoon. “The first words out of her mouth are something along the lines of, ‘Well this is all lies, I can’t read this,'” he said. “ . . . She keeps saying the word, ‘lies.’.”
Wilcox said she was taken aback by Gevelinger’s response. “It felt as if what our student body was saying and asking of Sister Mary Ellen and the college wasn’t taken seriously or considered,” she said. “And I had raised the point that even if what’s currently circulating is a lie, this is still an opportunity for you to work on those demands.”
O’Brien said the president was “shooting down any accusation that she’s wrong” and Gevelinger questioned the need for an apology.
Latinx Student Union President Vivi Velasquez, another student at the meeting, said the president “was not comforting at all and instead blamed it on us.”
Smith, who attended the Thursday meeting, said some students felt disrespected. “They didn’t feel heard, they didn’t feel validated.”
Smith said Gevelinger’s action in removing the link was “a bad mistake.”
For TFP, Smith said, “a big win is getting that name off a document … They’re not having monumental wins of closing down Planned Parenthood buildings,” Smith said. “They’re having very small-scale things that are catalysts for their members, and that gets them hyped that they are out there doing their version of work.”
President not familiar with group
Gevelinger said she had never heard of TFP Student Action, O’Brien said. “She didn’t know what TFP was” and “never actually contacted” any TFP members, he said.
O’Brien said that Gevelinger also said she did not know about the petition from TFP that stated, “as a Catholic institution, Edgewood College should have never included Planned Parenthood as a ‘wellness’ option for students in the first place, because the abortion provider is directly responsible for shedding innocent blood, which offends God so much.”
Gevelinger told students in the meeting that she did consult with her council and then decided “on her own” to remove the link, O’Brien said.
She didn’t think students would notice its removal and said that the college still has brochures with information on Planned Parenthood information in the Wellness Center.
In the meeting, O’Brien said, Gevelinger acknowledged that Planned Parenthood has more services than just providing abortions.
College Fix sparked outrage
The issue came to light after an article was posted by College Fix on Dec. 2 in which TFP declared victory and acknowledged the group had targeted Edgewood to remove the link to Planned Parenthood.
Gevelinger now says that the College Fix article twisted her words. Daniel Payne, an assistant editor at College Fix, declined to comment. “As a rule, we don’t share source exchanges or communications.”
One of the requests in the letter to Gevelinger from students was for her to “explicitly address Edgewood College’s views on LGBTQ+ students.” Her response was that she is the person who signed off on the implementation of the Queer Student Center.
The Student Senate letter told Gevelinger there were other issues. “Students courageously spoke their truth about the disappointment they experienced in response to your careless act of siding with an alt-right group that stands for and supports sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and white supremacy,” the letter said.
The letter also explained the variety of services at Planned Parenthood besides abortions. “While we understand that Edgewood College has never had a formal partnership with Planned Parenthood,” the letter says, “the action of removing the brochure from the Wellness Center resource page sends a direct message to the students that rely on the various services that Planned Parenthood provides.”
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