I could not focus in my class this past Friday. As hard as I tried, my mind could not let go of what I had seen on my way to my lecture hall in the AQ.
“Men and women DO regret abortion,” the poster read, an assertion made by the Lifeline club at SFU in order to promote their upcoming event “Silent No More” on campus. I admit I was a few minutes late to class, taking my time to study the contents of the poster and trying to understand exactly what message was covering the walls of my school.
Compounding my confusion was the presence of the student society (SFSS) logo on the poster. The logo is available for download on the SFSS webpage, welcome to be used on “your sponsored [sic] event poster or flyer,” with the accompanying logo branding guide only stipulating the font styles and colours that can be used with the logo.
It would be as simple as re-posting the posters without the SFSS logo or altering its language.
Rather than aesthetics, however, my concern here is with the implication of the logo. While most club event promotions that bear the SFSS logo are arguably neutral in nature, the message presented by Lifeline’s posters is clearly not.
Lifeline, whose club description on the SFSS webpage refers to abortion as an assault, is a pro-life club on campus. By branding the choice to terminate a pregnancy as a widely-held regret, the poster shames those who have chosen to exercise their reproductive rights.
This message is particularly troubling in the context of a university, a place of higher learning comprised of a predominantly young student population. The presence of the SFSS logo on the poster inadvertently legitimizes Lifeline’s negative, inflammatory message.
While the poster affected me deeply, I cannot imagine the impact it might have on a student or employee of the university who has had experiences with terminating a pregnancy.
The message asserted by the poster targets these individuals and creates an environment in which they are not welcome. The presence of the SFSS logo brings an official sense to Lifeline’s beliefs and is not indicative of a university student society that strives to represent its undergraduate student population.
Though Lifeline is welcome to exercise free speech and organize on the basis of their beliefs, I believe the use of the SFSS logo should be further regulated, ensuring that the logo is not used in situations where assertions that can be harmful to members of the university population are made.
In the context of this issue, it would be as simple as re-posting the posters without the SFSS logo or altering its language: “Men and women share their experiences with abortion,” for example.
Ensuring that the use of the SFSS logo on club promotional material is held to a certain standard of neutrality is necessary in order to prevent the association of club beliefs with the views of our student society.
