Campus Reform: Clarion University of Pennsylvania

For many college students, April 15^th is just another beautiful spring day.  For the rest of America, however, it's one of the most frustrating days of the year: Tax Day.

On Monday, April 16^th, the College Conservatives at Clarion University used the occasion to educate their peers on our complicated - and unfair - taxing system.  How?  By conducting Campus Reform's "Tax Your GPA" activism event.

As Clarion University students passed by, members of the College Conservatives asked them to fill out a tax form.  But this exercise had nothing to do with determining the students' income taxes.  Instead, it asked students to calculate hypothetical taxes on their GPA.

Sunday October 10, people around the nation joined hands and lined the nation's streets to call attention to the abortion epidemic in the "land of the free" as a part of the LifeChain initiative.  Clarion University Students for Life joined this effort, and made an impact on their community.

Several Clarion students made signs and joined their fellow citizens in the rain to address this important issue.  Clarion Students for Life representative, Katie Nolan, said "it was a great event," which garnered countless "car beeps and thumbs-up!" 

Fake blood sends a message - a creepy, violent, "I'm-not-a-rational-person" message. 

Perhaps that is why at least one pro-choice advocate vandalized a pro-life memorial at Clarion University on April 20.

The memorial displayed 350 miniature wooden crosses commemorating millions of lives lost to abortion.  The Students for Life at Clarion erected the memorial outside of the university's Gemmell Student Center.

During the night, the vandal(s) turned most of the crosses upside down while others were broken.  They threw red paint over the memorial to symbolize blood, even writing the words "pro-choice" with it.  The most chilling part?  They used the paint to make mock bloody infant footprints in front of the display.

"This is nothing but a blatant disregard for free speech," said Thomas McConnell, President of the Students for Life.  "It is truly sad that these individuals resorted to this kind of action."

Dr. Thomas Rourke, faculty advisor for the Students for Life, also responded:

Higher education in Pennsylvania is in an uproar.

On March 9, Governor Tom Corbett proposed a budget that would cut over 50% from the state's funding of higher education.  Faculty and administrators across the state immediately voiced their opposition.  Students began protesting in fear of massive tuition hikes and cuts to academics.

A rally held at Clarion University on March 22 was one such display of opposition.  APSCUF, the university's faculty union, sponsored the event and provided pizza and signs for attendees.  Professors and student leaders railed against the cuts, shouting "united we stand" as their message to the governor.

Students in attendance, however, were not as united as APSCUF would have preferred.  Members of the Clarion College Conservatives gathered at the rally to show their support for the budget cuts.