Rejection of anti-abortion student group labeled 'hate group' reversed at Univ. of Northern Iowa

After being referred to as a “hate group” and likened to a “white supremacist group,” Students for Life of America now is a “fully recognized student organization” on the University of Northern Iowa campus thanks to an intervening ruling from UNI President Mark Nook.

Nook’s finding that Northern Iowa Student Government was not content-neutral in denying the Students for Life of America application upended the rejection and granted it student org status and thus access to student government funding and promotional methods.

“Viewpoint discrimination is both unconstitutional and undemocratic,” Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins said in a statement responding to the UNI reversal. “A conversation on the human rights issue of our day — abortion — is demanded of all those who care about how our society has devalued life based on location. Whether in the womb, at the border, or in any city in America, preborn life matters and deserves legal protection.”

Link to tweet

Nook — in an eight-page ruling that found, if left to stand, the student government’s decision would have violated the First Amendment rights — wrote, “Universities exist to give students and all members of the university community an opportunity to wrestle with a vast diversity of ideas and opinions, to challenge their perception of their own identity and the beliefs and opinions of others, and to grow in their understanding of natural and social systems.”

Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/anti-abortion-student-group-gets-rejection-reversed-at-university-of-northern-iowa-20201027
(Cedar Rapids Gazette)