Student 'disturbed' after realising university had pro-life society
Lilly Crisp said she had to stop scrolling after spotted on her university’s website
A student stopped and asked ‘What actually is this?’ after she was scrolling on her phone with her friends. Lilly Crisp, who lives in Toxteth, was at her friend's home in Kensington when she was left “disturbed” by what she found on her university’s website.
The Liverpool John Moores student is on the creative writing committee and was looking through an alphabetical list of other societies that the group could potentially collaborate with. However, the 20-year-old was taken aback when she reached the letter P.
The third-year student told the ECHO: "I’m already on a committee so I was in my friend's house looking through a list of other university societies. We were looking to see who we could collaborate with and then when we got to the letter P and I just stopped scrolling and said ‘What is this? What actually is this?’. The pro-life society was just there.”
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According to the Students Union, the new society, which is shared between LJMU and the University of Liverpool, aims to “protect the sanctity of life at our universities”. It claims to want to “help educate members on issues so they can cultivate a pro-life space for students”.
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However, Lilly doesn’t feel that society is the “safe space” it is making itself out to be. In light of this, she created a petition asking for the society to be “condemned and erased”.
Lily feels “there should be no room” for this type of society in an educative setting. However, Liverpool Guild of Students said it was unable to turn down the proposal for the society “simply on the basis of that group’s ideas or views, unless those opinions break the law”.
Lily, a media production student, said: “A pro-life society is the basic removal of rights. It’s not a safe space. There has been so much disgust since we started sharing the petition.” Lily wants the society to be disbanded but also wants to understand how the society was approved “in the first place”. She said it comes at a time when there’s a “wider conversation happening” with the epidemic of violence against women and girls.
She added: “It really disturbed me. The whole society disturbed me. It feels so wrong. As a woman, you’ve always got to negotiate your place, wherever you go. As a feminist, you always feel the need to water yourself down because people will be saying that I’m just an angry woman with this petition. But once I saw this, I knew I needed to do something. It feels so intrusive.
“Liverpool is such a great city and inclusive community so for a university here to have a society like this just feels like it takes a lot of that away from the city. I'm for freedom of speech but this is coming for a group of people and that’s just wrong.”
The ECHO approached the Pro-Life society but they declined to comment. A joint statement addressing Lilly's petition was released by the Guild and the University. The statement said it recognises how “our members will not always agree with every society, and that there can be disagreement between different groups”.
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Despite this, the Guild said it remains committed to “facilitating respectful, inclusive debate”. The statement also reiterated that the pro life society would need to follow the code of conduct and create an environment where everyone is “treated with dignity, fairness and respect”.
It added: “The Guild’s requirement to protect free speech means that, even if our democratic structures were to decide that they did not wish to approve a particular society, we would be unable to act on that direction, as doing so would be in breach of our obligations to protect free speech.
“We understand that this is an issue that inspires strong feelings on both sides, and the Guild is committed to working with its members to ensure that the debate is carried out in a respectful and inclusive way.
“We understand the concerns raised about women’s rights on campus, and we maintain our support and commitment to women’s rights. Our joint priority remains ensuring that all students feel safe and supported. We are committed to ensuring that any student who needs support can access non-judgemental, confidential advice that empowers them to make the right decision for themselves.”
The full statement could be read here. Lily's petition can be signed here.
