About 100 protestors gathered across from the Loyola Law School Wednesday evening to voice their disapproval inviting of Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, to speak at the school.Protesters said that Gandy, a pro-choice activist who graduated from Loyola Law School in 1973, has no right to be honored by a Catholic University.Gary Durel, one of the protesters, said Loyola was “turning a blind eye to her (Gandy’s) character,” becasue she stands for abortion, which “is a grave evil, according to the pope.”The conflict concerning Gandy’s appearance began last week when Archbishop Alfred Hughes publicly chastised the university for inviting Gandy to speak.Hughes’ rebuke was followed by an advertisement taken out by Priests For Life, a national pro-life organization of priests, admonishing Loyola for Gandy’s invitation. The ad, which appeared in the A section of Wednesday’s Times-Picayune, read “Shame on Loyola University for fostering the Culture of Death by inviting onto the campus Kim Gandy.”Peter Finney Jr., communications director for the archbishop, said Hughes made his statement because he did not want his silence on the issue to be taken as approval of the invitation.Dean James Klebba of the Loyola Law School declined to comment on the ad taken out by the Priests for Life or on the archbishop’s censure of the university’s decision to invite Gandy. Klebba said Gandy’s invitation was a joint effort of the Women’s Resource Center, the Gills Long Poverty Center, the Association of Women Law Students and the School of Law. According to Klebba, Gandy was an “excellent student,” has been an active alumna and has helped many Loyola students get jobs in Washington D.C.Klebba also said that NOW supports many issues the Catholic Church does not disapprove of. “NOW has many issues that they support, only one of which is abortion,” he said.Gandy’s response to the controversy was to say, “The Archbishop of New Orleans is urging my law school to do away with traditional academic freedom of speech and replace the free exchange of ideas with religious doctrine,”according to the NOW Web site.Gandy has worked with NOW since 1973, working her way up through the state, regional and national levels, and before that she was active in promoting women’s rights in Louisiana. Projects she has worked on include the WomenElect 2000 Project, an effort to recruit more women voters in Louisiana. Gandy also helped to draft the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which provided women with legal options in sexual harassment cases. And the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which helped to lower violence at abortion clinics.It is Gandy’s work for legalizing abortion that has upset many Catholic leaders.Finney said that NOW has done many good things. He said he believes that their beliefs should be looked at as a whole. He said that one of NOW’s main objectives is an ardent push for abortion rights, while the teachings of the Catholic Church are against abortion. “It saddens me that the accomplishments of one of our graduates are being reduced to one issue,” said Susanne Dietzel, director of Loyola’s Women’s Resource Center.Finney said that Hughes thought the situation might be more favorable if the context of Gandy’s visit had been different. He said that if Gandy were part of a panel that included feminists who are pro-life advocates, Gandy’s visit might not be such a bone of contention.Finney said that the archbishop does not wish to cut off dialogue with the Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, after this affair. Finney said that Knoth and Hughes have scheduled a meeting in the next few weeks to discuss matters of “mutual interest.”
“This is a law school, not a seminary,” Gandy said on the NOW site. “Loyola’s Law School’s job is to develop lawyers, thinkers and scholars, not religious ideologues.”
THE PROTESTAbout an hour before Gandy was scheduled to give her speech, protesters began arriving. Both University Police and the New Orleans Police Department were in full force in preparation for the protest. Sgt. Paul Accardo, NOPD public information officer, said that several precautions had been take. A canine unit swept the law school for bombs an hour before the speech was scheduled to begin. NOPD also sent a special operations team and mounted officers to the campus. Angela Honora, a lieutenant with University Police, said the department had had meetings about security issues for protestes because the public relations office had gotten complaints about people protesting.”Maybe they’ll think twice about sending protesters,” after seeing the police response, she said.Accardo said the police train for these sort of situations regularly. “We’re here to keep the peace and make sure everyone’s civil rights are protected,” Accardo said.Law students began to gather on the porch as the protesters began to arrive. “We’re a law school; the law says pro-choice,” one student yelled toward the protesters.Aubry Harris, a first year law student, said the controversy surrounding improved discussion of women’s rights among students and faculty. “I’d say 98 percent of the conversations today focussed on women’s issues, and I’m happy to see the heightened discourse,” she said.”They have a right to be here. … This is a place for open discourse,” said Rebecca Fenton, first year law student. Fenton also agreed with Harris that the controversy has increased women’s awareness on campus, at least for the time being.Brent Zeringue went to the protest accompanied by his wife and their nine children, most of whom were carrying signs across from the law school. Zeringue likened Gandy’s appreaance at Loyola to inviting a neo-Nazi speak at a Jewish university. He said he felt he had to attend the protest because Gandy’s views ran so contrary to the Catholic church.Durel also emphasized that he feels “Loyola is guilty of a double standard” in inviting Gandy.”We are Catholics,” said Pam Richard, coordinator for the Catholic Charismatic Sidewalk Counseling and Picketing Ministry. “I don’t go for this diversity or this let anyone speak…She’s on Catholic soil, and the invitation should have been rescinded.”Richard also called into question Gandy’s commitment to ending abuse against women.”The ultimate abuse is to rip a baby from the womb; it is the ultimate child abuse,” she said.Deacons and seminarians from Notre Dame seminary attended the protest. They said they felt they should just be there to show their support, but declined further comment.”This has nothing to do with academic freedom – no debate,” said Dorinda Bordlee, an executive committee member of Lawyers for Life.She said Gandy stood for the violations of “true women’s rights, because abortion hurts women””I respect the views of everyone; I think universities should include all viewpoints,” said Chris Day, who has been a member of NOW’s New Orleans chapter for decades. Day could be seen carrying large NOW signs in front of law school. She tried to bring the signs into the speech, but all signs and cameras were banned from the room. The small moot court room filled quickly, and University Police had to keep several people, including law students and a woman’s studies professor from Tulane, from entering the speech.
BACK OUTSIDEWhen the Rev. Jim Shank began preaching on a loudspeaker outside at the protest, students and onlookers who had gathered on the porch of the Law school began to respond. Shortly after Shank’s comments against same-sex marriages were met with yells from the onlookers, someone brought photocopied signs and handed them out to the people on the porch. These signs read “Catholic and pro-choice” and “Catholics for Free Speech.”One of the protester’s signs read, “Ginsburg, Gandy – Who’s next – bin Laden?”The group of law students seemed to get larger and more involved as the evening went
POVERTY CENTER AWARDOn Monday, several people were given awards from the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center. Gandy was among the honorees but did not receive her award until Wednesday night. When the archbishop spoke out against Gand
y’s invitation, he paid special attention to the fact that Gandy was not only speaking at the university but was also being given an award.Bill Quigley, head of the Gillis Long Poverty Center, said that since 1990, Loyola has recognized approximately 100 members of the Loyola Law community because they have dedicated their careers to public service. Quigley, who is a law professor at Loyola, said Gandy was given the award for her work as a member of the clinic while she was at Loyola; her activity in the district attorney’s office in New Orleans; her founding of the Metropolitan Battered Women’s Shelter; her founding of the Louisiana Women’s Network, which handles women’s issues in the legislature; her involvement in drafting and passing a child support law for the state and the state’s first statewide domestic violence law; and her activity as president of NOW, a 450,000-member organization that works for social justice. “I fully support the bishop’s right to speak out about it (Gandy’s invitation), just as I support the people who criticize what the bishop is saying,” Quigley said. Isabel Medina, a law school professor who who was instrumental in bringing Gandy to Loyola, said she did not expect such a strong response to Gandy’s invitation. She said that Gandy was invited because she is a Loyola law school alumna and is one student who has obtained substantial accolades. Medina said she, the Association of Women Law Students and the Woman’s Resource Center all had decided independently to invite Gandy. When they learned of each other’s idea, the organizations decided to co-sponsor Gandy, Medina said.”We welcome people of all denominations at the law school,” Medina said.”I want to emphasize that student groups were interested in having her come to talk. …She is a woman leader,” Medina said.Medina said she wasn’t expecting the negative response that Gandy’s invitation produced. She said that other speakers have been invited that she felt were much more controversial, such as Randall Robinson, who advocates reparations for the decendants of slaves and spoke at Loyola on Monday night. Quigley said he thinks that the high profile of Gandy’s invitation is good for the law school and helps people to understand the role of a university.Medina said Gandy “has devoted her life on work on a number of issues that the Catholic Church also works on, such as death penalty and sexual violence. … I’m sure none of those goals are inconsistant with the Catholic church.”Regarding the response she’s gotten for having Gandy on campus,, Medina said, “I’ve gotten a number of e-mail and phone calls expressing support.”
-with reporting by Philip Braun, Curie Veronica Jones and Maggie Crawford
John Paul Zeringue, one of nine children of Karen and Brent Zeringue, holds a sign along with about 100 protesters in front of the Law School on Wednesday. (Lane Cotton Winn)
