TFP Student Action, a group dedicated to promoting traditional moral values on college campuses, recently criticized the Notre Dame Political Science Department for linking to pro-choice groups on its website. On March 19, the group organized an online petition addressed to University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, to have the links removed from the university website.
The pro-choice groups were listed on the political science department’s “Summer Internship Opportunities” page. The petition pinpoints the pro-choice political action committee EMILY’s List and 7 other organizations: the Center for American Progress, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Human Rights Watch, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the National Women’s Law Center, Think Progress, and the United Nations Population Fund.
“It’s scandalous for a Catholic university to post live links on its website that feature groups that actively promote abortion under the title ‘summer internship opportunities,’” said Tradition Family Property Student Action Director John Ritchie.
The link to EMILY’s List was removed from the webpage, which now contains the following disclaimer: “Our majors have interned at the following organizations. Listing here does not constitute an endorsement of the mission of agenda of these organizations by the department or the University.”
The petition originally claimed that Notre Dame “offered” the internships but this point was later corrected. University Spokesman Dennis K. Brown wrote in an email to THE ROVER, “Contrary to the group’s unsubstantiated report, Notre Dame does not offer internships to the organizations that were cited and does not encourage students to apply for them. TFP has changed its story and no longer is making its original false claims.”
Michael Desch, professor and chair of the political science department, referred all inquiries to Brown, who clarified the university’s relationship to the internship opportunities listed.
“The list on the political science department website was just that, a list of internships students have taken and then self-reported to the department,” Brown wrote. “After reviewing records over a number of years, we have determined that no academic credit was given nor were University funds used with the internships in question. Going forward, the college will develop a policy for what is appropriate in listing internships on the website.”
Contact Claire at cgillen2@nd.edu.
