Joe Tarr
About 50 students protested on the sidewalk in front of Edgewood College over the removal of information about Planned Parenthood from the school's health and wellness website.
Ellie Olbinski just wanted some answers.
She and dozens of other Edgewood College students crowded into an auditorium on Friday afternoon, waiting to hear from the school’s interim president, Mary Ellen Gevelinger, about why the administration caved to pressure from a conservative group and removed information about Planned Parenthood from the college’s website.
But Olbinski didn’t get any answers today. At the last minute, Heather Harbach, vice president for student development, told the students that Gevelinger had agreed to meet only with students and faculty — not presumably, reporters, who had been invited by students to attend the meeting. Harbach said a smaller meeting with just students would be rescheduled.
“Are you kidding me?” one student yelled, as others began chanting “shame.”
About 50 students then marched to the president’s office, but Gevelinger wasn’t there. They then walked to Monroe Street and picketed on the sidewalk across from the college, sometimes chanting for Gevelinger to resign.
“It was a feeling of disappointment,” says Olbinski, president of the college’s Women Empowerment club. “It’s not just that they did those actions. They also won’t take responsibility to speak to the students or recognize the students who are having a problem with it.”
Ed Taylor, college spokesperson, did not respond to an email from Isthmus asking why the meeting was canceled.
The college administration removed information about Planned Parenthood from its page listing off-campus health and wellness resources.
Several students interviewed by Isthmus said they had no idea the change was in the works and were angry that they weren’t consulted about it.
The Fix, a conservative website covering higher education, broke the story on Dec. 2, framing it as a “win” for anti-abortion activists.
The students soon realized that another conservative group, the Pennsylvania-based TFP Student Action — an acronym for “tradition, family, property” — had circulated a petition to try to force the school to remove Planned Parenthood links.
“It turns out it’s a right-wing hate group, that is very anti-LGBTQ, very anti-transgender and really doesn’t align with what Edgewood claims it supports,” says student Jade Proctor. “It didn’t take a lot of clicks [to realize what TFP supports], so I’m not sure why Edgewood didn’t also do this.”
Joe Tarr
Edgewood students tapped a flier on the door of the college's interim president, Mary Ellen Gevelinger, after she abruptly canceled a meeting with them.
Gevelinger released a statement on Dec. 5 saying that the “petition drive” by TFP was overloading the college’s email and voicemail systems. “In an effort to reduce Edgewood College’s value as a weapon as this organization continues to attack institutions, I made the decision — in consult with the President’s Council and others — to remove the document from the web page,” she wrote. “As has been the case for several years, that document is available to our students in printed form at The Wellness Center, electronically upon request, and from Wellness Center staff when consulting.”
The statement noted that conservative groups and media are claiming a “victory” from this. Gevelinger wrote, “None of these organizations share our values.”
But the college administration’s failure to meet with students or change course has many students even more upset.
“The fact that she didn’t show up today says everything I need to know about student concerns,” says student Arianna Ebert. “I had a feeling it would happen.”
Many students declined to talk on the record, fearing that the school would punish them for being critical, says Sean O’Brien, president of SAFE Edgewood, a student LGBTQ group. He says that students worry they’ll be expelled or punished for speaking out, noting that Edgewood got negative press over the racial climate on campus.
“It’s just bad media and the college is afraid of it,” O’Brien says.
Several faculty members have shown support for the students, joining in the protest. Some, however, worried about giving their names to reporters for fear of retribution.
Melanie Herzog, dean of the college’s School of Arts and Sciences, read a statement to students after the canceled meeting.
“Claiming a victory, this hate group has named Edgewood College as supportive of their mission, to our great shame,” Herzog said. “There is no space for hate in the work that we do to create a safe and supportive learning community for our students. Every student.”
Katie Lange, who attended Friday’s protest, grew up in rural Wisconsin. She said she chose Edgewood because she wanted to attend a small school but be in an urban environment. “I wanted to have one-on-one connections with my teachers but not be so isolated in a small town, so Edgewood provided both of those,” she says.
She wants the administration to repost information about Planned Parenthood on its website and to apologize to students.
“They did not uphold the values that they teach to us in school,” says Lange, who quickly rattles them off: “Truth, compassion, justice, partnership, community — they’re violating all of those.”
