Flier's Wording Generates National Attention

This article was originally published in the Gonzaga Bulletin on Nov. 21, 2003 by Abra Belke and Ezra Casteel.

When College Republicans President Paul Schafer brought conservative author and lecturer Daniel Flynn to campus to discuss his book "Why the Left Hates America," he hoped it would promote discussion and be well attended. 

"I knew that some people would be upset that we invited Flynn to speak," Schafer said. "I never imagined that I would end up defending the flier instead of our opinions." The fliers that Schafer created and posted around campus prominently displayed the title of the book and advertised the lecture's date and location. The controversy began when some members of the Gonzaga community took issue with the flier's wording. 

"When I saw the poster, I took one down because our publicity policy says that we don't allow hate speech to be posted around campus," said Director of Student Activities David Lindsay. "I took the poster to one of the Student Life board meetings in order to discuss the issue and found that another member had one as well. We as a board then decided to look into the situation in order to determine the poster's intent and whether there was reason to be concerned." 

Lindsay was charged with the task because he also oversees the operation of the Crosby Student Center and one of his employees, Carol Magnuson, had approved the initial flier. 

Lindsay met with Schafer to discuss the issues concerning the flier. The two came to a mutual agreement that Schafer would alter the flier by adding quotes around the title of Flynn's book, to clarify any misunderstandings. 

Schafer changed the flier and was in the process of replacing the questionable materials with their updated and agreed-upon version, when he received a letter from Activities Coordinator Anna Gonzales and GSBA Clubs and Organizations Vice President Shannon Haines. 

"I was surprised by the letter's arrival and its content," said Schafer, who thought the issue had been resolved with the posting of the new flier. The letter stated that a formal complaint had been lodged against the College Republicans because the complainant felt that the phrase "the LEFT HATES . . ." is discriminatory. While Haines and Gonzalez said no action would be taken against the club, they informed Schafer that a copy of the complaint would be put in the College Republicans' file. Although those official files are not often accessed, a club's file is the record of all documents going back to the founding and can be viewed when clubs apply for renewal at the end of each school-year or when disciplinary action has been brought against the club. 

Even though all club documents are public records, when The Gonzaga Bulletin asked for a copy of the complaint or the identity of the complainant, Gonzalez was unable to produce either. 

Schafer was disheartened and concerned that a miscommunication within the Office of Student Activities could affect the reputation of his club for years to come.

"I have been trying to repair bridges and heal wounds," said Schafer. "But it appears that certain people aren't willing to look at our actions today and not focus on old issues." 

Following the receipt of the letter, Schafer contacted the lecture's co-sponsor, Young America's Foundation (YAF), which opted to issue a press release that quickly gained national attention. The story was picked up by several news services, and also garnered a small mention in The Wall Street Journal. 

Lindsay was unaware of the brewing controversy the flier was causing until he received a phone call from Cybercast News Service asking him for comment on the YAF press release. 

"It was very abrupt.Suddenly I was being asked to comment on a press release that I had not even seen," said Lindsay, who also thought the issue concerning the flier had been resolved. 

But the controversy did not end there. 

On Friday, Oct. 3, Schafer received a call informing him that some of his fliers had been torn down by a GSBA executive and the anonymous caller also encouraged him to contact GSBA President Ryan McCauley. 

McCauley confirmed that some of the fliers had been removed but refused to say which executive had taken them down and that GSBA would look into it. 

Shannon Haines, who was present when one of the fliers was removed, said, "The impression that I got from the policy was that since some of the posters were deemed inappropriate, those ones were to be taken down. However, when we found out the policy prevents any approved posters from being removed without the permission of Student Life, we stopped taking them down." 

GSBA Student Activities Vice President Travis Millspaugh, who was also present while some of the fliers were removed, confirmed that their removal was the result of a misunderstanding and that there was no malicious intent. 

Schafer responded to the removal of his fliers by filing an official complaint with the GSBA Forum, asking them to address the issue. A four-member ad hoc committee was formed by GSBA Forum to investigate the allegations and discuss the provisions of the publicity policy. 

Student Affairs Vice President Conor Boyle said, "The Constitution allows for the vice president to put ad hoc committees together, but it has never been done before." 

Dean of Student Services Beth Hellwig-Olson is confident the issue can be resolved through mediation between the two parties. The committee consists of Forum members Scott Pierce, Leah Rourke, Andrew Clayton and Danielle Cendejas. 

Junior Representative and committee co-sponsor Andrew Clayton said, "The goal of the committee is to bring the issue to a resolution and find mutual respect between both parties." 

Asked to comment on the rumor that the executive accused in the complaint could be impeached, Chief of Staff Billy Itule said, "While we acknowledge that a mistake has been made, we stand by the members of our executive board 100 percent and are taking steps to rectify the problem." 

Itule also stated that he believes that the comments concerning impeachment are "baseless rumors." He personally feels that the issue has been "exacerbated in an attempt to fan the flames of controversy." 

Like Itule, Hellwig-Olson also questioned if escalating the attention given to this issue is for the greater good of the Gonzaga community. 

However, Schafer said, "I think the press attention is good because people in the community and prospective students should know about the things that happen at Gonzaga." 

Schafer added, "It also brings up issues that need to be discussed by people on campus." 

The controversy regarding the speaker has ballooned beyond anything that might have been imagined when the speaker was first scheduled. 

Those eager for a resolution to the controversy will have to wait until the GSBA ad hoc committee reports its findings to Forum on Oct. 28. Until then, no further action will be taken against the executive or the club.