Amid controversy over whether United Feminists should lose its access to University benefits for partnering with H*yas for Choice in the Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice campaign, Center for Student Programs Director Erika Cohen-Derr said that the University will not stop funding the group.
Plan A’s demands, which include access to material resources such as condoms and rape kits at GU Hospital, comprehensive sex education, and free speech and open dialogue, were outlined in an open letter to President John DeGioia.
On February 23, United Feminists member Marion Cory (COL ’10) acknowledged that United Feminists risked losing its access to benefits as a result of their involvement in the campaign, especially after Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson rejected Plan A’s demands as conflicting with Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity. However, Cohen-Derr said that United Feminists has not yet done anything to endanger its funding.
“United Feminists will not lose access to benefits for partnering with [H*yas for Choice,] an organization that does not have access to benefits,” Cohen-Derr wrote in an e-mail on March 3. “In general, access to benefits is not contingent upon the activities planned by the group, as long as they have met the criteria outlined in the Access to Benefits policy and remain in good standing with their advisory board regarding compliance with any and all relevant university policies.”
Cory said on March 3 that United Feminists losing its funding was not a big concern.
Additionally, on March 1, the Student Activities Commission approved funding for a March 22 panel of three pro-choice speakers. Although United Feminists secured funding for the event, the Plan A campaign is hosting the event.
David Gregory (COL ’10), editor-in-chief of the Catholic, socially conservative Georgetown Academy, believes that the administration will eventually prevent it from taking place, despite the approval of Bill McCoy, associate director of the Center for Student Programs.
“Like Plan A[‘s demands], I’m not terribly worried about this,” Gregory said. “I think the University will shut it down before it takes off the ground. I can easily see alumni bringing this to authorities outside of Georgetown. If Georgetown does start funding this, it could explode very easily and quickly into something the University just doesn’t want to happen.”
Although Cory is pleased that Georgetown has chosen to sponsor a pro-choice event, she said that it does not erase the University’s history of stifling student discourse on the matter.
“Plan A is committed to ensuring that in the future, HFC will be able to secure university support without having to go through another student group,” Cory wrote in an e-mail.
