Apr 30, 2008 11:20 pm US/Central
UST Dean: No Credit For Helping Planned Parenthood
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
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Tara Borton wanted to fulfill her public service graduation requirement with volunteer work at Planned Parenthood. A student board authorized the credit for Borton but a day later a dean overturned the decision.
CBS
Dozens of University of St. Thomas law students are upset about a recent decision by the school's dean. In an open letter to Dean Thomas Mengler, the students are protesting his decision to deny academic credit to a student who wanted to volunteer at Planned Parenthood.
Tara Borton wanted to fulfill her public service graduation requirement with volunteer work at Planned Parenthood. A student board authorized the credit for Borton last week, as long as she didn't work with women who wanted abortions. A day later, Mengler overrode their decision.
In a response to the students' open letter, Mengler wrote, "Volunteer services at Planned Parenthood, whatever the nature of that service, advance the mission of Planned Parenthood, an organization whose mission is fundamentally at odds with a core value of the Catholic Church."
He cited a 1999 decision by University of St. Thomas President Father Dennis Dease to deny credit to an undergraduate student who wanted to volunteer at Planned Parenthood. Mengler said Dease made the decision then "because Planned Parenthood is a leader in the abortion rights movement and because opposition to abortion is one of the core values on the Catholic faith."
Borton was surprised and upset with the dean's decision.
"Catholic education and the Catholic identity of a law school is in the faculty and curriculum. It's naturally reflected in the student body because certain types of students seek out those schools," she said. "But enforcement on those students is to the academic detriment of the school and that's where it crosses the line."
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota said students are crucial in fulfilling their mission. More than 40 percent of their volunteers are students.
In a statement
, Planned Parenthood President and CEO Sarah Stoesz said, "This decision illustrates a disturbing and dangerous lack of tolerance on the part of leadership at the school."
Of the 29 Planned Parenthood Clinics in Minnesota, only one in St. Paul offers abortion services. Borton had not planned on working there, but in Minneapolis on education and grassroots efforts.
First-year law student Paul Haverstock agreed with the dean's decision. He pointed to Pope Benedict's recent comments to American Catholic educators about how Catholic universities must hold true to the identities they represent.
"There can't be a dispute that the Catholic Church's position on abortion is that it is unequivocally wrong and Planned Parenthood is one of the premier advocates of expansion of abortion rights in America," said Haverstock. "So the issue to me is absolutely clear."
The University of St. Thomas received some public criticism last year when it decided not to invite Archbishop Desmond Tutu to campus over concerns he made about Israel's treatment of Palestinians. St. Thomas later invited him, but he declined.
"I think the deeper question here is what it means to be a Catholic University," said Haverstock.
In the students' open letter to Mengler, they wrote that the school should embrace its identity by welcoming those who differ.
"We must take care not to make decisions that close doors against future students and edge our school towards an extreme orthodox status," said the letter.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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