White crosses a scary way to protest
They’re baaaaack! I was delighted to walk to class this morning to see the Union end of the Parade Ground once again has been turned into Boot Hill from the movie Tombstone. Is this really necessary? Is this the best way the pro-life community of LSU can come up with to protest abortion? A hundred plywood crosses? Do you know how creepy that is to walk by at night?
Of course this display inevitably will be followed by coat hanger-filled reactions of the pro-choice community, and it seems Frisbee-throwing on that portion of the Parade Ground will be stopped for at least a month. I’m not trying to tell people how to think; it’s not my place to tell anyone whether abortion is right or wrong, since obviously I never will have to decide whether or not to have one.
It is my belief, and the belief of several whose opinions I value, that if men were getting pregnant, abortions would be easier to get than food poisoning at Jack in the Box. I personally don’t believe in abortion, but I don’t believe in forcing rape victims to be mothers either. This debate is going to rage on well into the next generation. There is only one final word on this one, and that’s God, but you don’t get to see him backstage until the whole play is over. I don’t want to get a thumbs down from the guy who invented thumbs, so I will suck it up on this one and not tell anyone else how to live. When it comes to your body, only you can be the judge.
Lose the crosses guys, they are scary. If you want to protest something you feel is wrong, so be it. Write a letter to your congressman. That is how change is made, but please, stop defacing my campus in order to do it.
Zachary Howser
Senior — History
Cross display doesn’t belong at LSU
I have been appalled at many things witnessed on this campus, but thus far, this takes the cake. Walking to lunch today, on the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, I saw hundreds of white crosses strewn across the Parade Ground. Now, I don’t have a problem with the churches, even on campus, displaying their freedom of speech and religion. This is a free country. But a public university should be absolutely ashamed to exhibit such a biased display. I don’t care what the administration thinks; their personal views are not my business.
On that note, my personal views are being attacked simply by walking through these little white crosses, which bear great significance, on public university grounds. Would this flagship university of higher thinking, research and prestigious stature think twice about displaying, say, a family-planning banner, or handing out condoms at the Union? I think not. People would be up in arms before you can say “responsible.”
Roe vs. Wade is an established precedent, and displaying crosses about the lawn to show disapproval of the law is a blatant slap in the face to every person who does not share in these opinions. I thought LSU had come out of the repressive 1950s, but I was wrong. I knew the anniversary was approaching, and I hoped that LSU would know better, but again, I was wrong.
Tracy R. Fontenot
Graduate Student