See the photos

'OSU allowed ... [CBR] to come to campus because it does not discriminate but the university stands as non-partisan.' [CBR note: "Allowed" us? They couldn't stop us! This disingenuous claim of accommodation is belied by the fact that the administration initially attempted to ban GAP by invoking a long ignored university prohibition against the display of large signs. We responded with a threat to place our GAP panels on the sides of rental trucks and drive them all over campus, all day long. We also promised a law suit. They quickly backed down. But the administration reportedly pressured the advisor of the only student group then sponsoring us to withdraw its invitation.] 'This university stands for free speech but is not endorsing these troubling images,' Busch said.

Thank heaven Mr. Busch can still be "troubled" by images of this sort (though he seemed far more "troubled" that the pictures were being displayed than that the babies were being killed ). But Mr. McDonald's urge to stifle dissent betrays a thinly disguised hostility toward freedom of expression (of non-liberal ideas) that runs deep in academe. The Lantern, Monday, October 19, for instance, rightly decried the heckling of way-right knuckleheads who disrupted the Wyoming funeral of murdered homosexual student Matthew Shepard. But then the editors' totalitarian inclinations got the best of them. The paper argued that the occurrence ". . . was one of those incidents in which many Americans secretly wish there were a clause in the Bill of Rights that revoked the right of protest to people who are such idiots."

Sadly, large numbers of collegians (and their censorious mentors) think anyone who disputes conventional leftist "wisdom" is "an idiot" who thereby forfeits all rights, constitutional or otherwise. In an atmosphere poisoned by the infantile notion that "personal feelings" trump "constitutional rights," objective dialogue becomes nearly impossible. And hysterical fear of open discussion is nowhere more evident than among shock troops of pro-abort hard-core.

PRO-ABORT OPPOSITION
In a letter dated October 12, 1998, Aly Terrell, State Organizer, NARRAL Ohio (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) declined an invitation to participate in a campus abortion debate with the following retort: "I am writing to inform you that I am not willing to participate in a debate with Gregg Cunningham. The extremist and violent nature of the rhetoric used by Mr. Cunningham and the organization he represents is inappropriate and offensive." She said "rhetoric" but she meant pictures.

Ms. Terrell apparently doesn't think it is "extreme," "violent," "inappropriate," or "offensive" to torture babies to death, just to display pictures of babies who have been tortured to death. In this latter respect she sounds eerily like the majority of "pro-life" leaders. (Most contemporary pro-life leaders are "pro-life moderates" who condemn the use of abortion pictures - even in crisis pregnancy counseling - because they don't know how to use them and/or, they fear the persecution invited by their effective use).

Pro-aborts have for years made abortion debates impossible by simply refusing to participate. But the advent of GAP guarantees that there will be a debate - and that it will be well informed. There is no longer anything Ms. Terrell or her fellow travelers can do to stop it.

Although the response of most Ohio State students was both civil and cerebral, a belligerent minority tried unsuccessfully to disrupt our presentation at every turn. It soon became clear that abortion advocates still don't understand the implications of "police scanner" journalism. Pro-abort violence will never drive us from any campus (we inform the administration that pro-abort assaults may actually lengthen our stay) but conflict draws the press like flies (especially where cops are involved) and the more fiercely the pro-aborts oppose our presence, the more attention they inadvertently focus on our message. We could not have had so many excellent discussions with so many students had the antics of these pro-aborts not helped us draw large crowds every day. GAP is like a leg-hold trap; the harder you struggle, the deeper the steel jaws sink their teeth. If the pro-aborts ever demand compensation for their raucous attacks, we will cheerfully pay.

At Ohio State, our would-be tormentors consisted chiefly of non-students, self-styled lesbians and loony-left day-trippers who car-pooled in from another campus (planet?). This was a group which obviously had little experience defending their muddled beliefs. The academic community is so liberal and so isolated, that their biases had probably never been seriously challenged. At any rate, they showed a great deal more passion than mastery of fact or argument. So like children, they threw tantrums.

The Ohio State Lantern, Friday, October 23, 1998, carried a story describing their agitation: Headline; "Student arrested in failed attack on abortion display."

University police arrested an unidentified female student Thursday for criminal mischief after she allegedly charged the Genocide Awareness Project display with a knife, apparently trying to slash the controversial images. Although a campus police dispatcher confirmed the arrest, she did not provide details of the incident.

* * *

Cunningham said that a group of about 40 people approached the display and divided into several groups. While one group distracted the only police officer on duty, the second group charged another side of the display, he said.

* * *

The unidentified woman moved through the crowd and pulled out a knife, attempting to cut one of the display signs, Cunningham said.

'It took 20-30 minutes for campus police to regain control. Eight to 10 officers tried to restore order.'

Once the incident began, the first officer quickly called for back-up, he said.

'The police acted swiftly and did a good job,' Cunningham said.

The entire incident was caught on video tape and still photos were taken.

'We got everyone involved on tape,' Cunningham said, adding that he will send members of the Center back to Ohio to file charges. 'We will make an example out of lawbreakers.'

When asked if the Center was worried about security if no police were present, Cunningham said the Center prefers that the police handle the situation, but they have their own security measures when necessary.

Cunningham would not elaborate on those measures.

Although much commotion happened during the afternoon, the Center still had its open debate at 8 p.m.

The debate attracted over 70 people and the audience was forced to move from Hitchcock Hall to a larger classroom in Boltz Hall. Unlike the incident hours before, the debate between Cunningham and audience members was calm.

Two videos were shown. The first showed pictures of an embryo from the seventh week until the tenth week. The second video graphically pictured aborted fetuses.

Comments during the debate questioned the legitimacy of the Genocide Awareness Project and allowed for intelligent conversation [emphasis added].