HRL Will Submit Posters To College

Harvard Right to Life (HRL), known for its controversial campus publicity efforts, agreed Wednesday to submit its posters for review prior to hanging them around campus.

Harvard’s Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response will now check HRL posters after students complained at a Wednesday night meeting that a recent poster mentioning sexual assault caused emotional harm.

The poster in question is entitled “Women Deserve Better,” and shows “Candice,” a rape victim, expressing regret for having chosen abortion.

Anne M. Morris ’04 said she found the poster offensive and—along with 31 other students—sent an e-mail to HRL requesting a meeting.

The concerned students especially took issue with the opening line, “I was raped,” arguing that it would have a traumatic effect on rape survivors. According to the e-mail sent to HRL, the Office for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response received several complaints about the posters citing “revictimization,” which incites emotions nearly as intense as those invoked by the original incident.

Roughly 20 to 25 percent of college women will be assaulted before they receive their diplomas, the e-mail read.

The signers of the e-mail wrote that they hoped to understand who HRL was trying to reach with its posters, what reaction HRL sought and what statement the posters intended to make.

HRL, which cycles its posters in a weekly rotation, has made news recently after its posters and one of its exhibits were defaced. But the Wednesday meeting focused solely on the HRL poster which mentioned rape.

HRL Vice President Laura E. Openshaw ’04 said the “censorship issue was mentioned in passing,” but that it was not the “appropriate forum” for such discussion.

Until Openshaw was approached by Morris at a Coalition Against Sexual Violence meeting, she said she had received only “generic concerns on the issue.”

“It wasn’t until pretty late in the campaign that people had specific concerns,” Openshaw said.

When Morris expressed her worry, Openshaw said she was “shocked.”

“Of course we never would have wanted to affect anyone in this way,” she said. “We were horrified.”

By the time of the complaint, the poster had reached its expiration date, and members of the group were instructed to either replace or tape over the controversial posters with new ones.

The signers of the e-mail said they did not think that HRL meant to offend people with the posters.

Abigail L. Fee ’05, president of Harvard Students for Choice and a signatory of the e-mail, said she believed HRL’s intent was “not to traumatize” with the posters. Fee said she attended the meeting Wednesday night, but added that her organization was not officially involved.

When a meeting was suggested, Openshaw said she felt it was a “great idea.”

She described the speakers at the meeting as “respectful and productive” and said she was “very pleased” with the outcome.

Harvard Students for Choice also agreed to consult the staff at the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response before using sexual assault-oriented language in future advertising campaigns, according to Fee.

Fee said she considered the outcome “great and really productive.” And Openshaw said she hoped “for similar conversations in the future.”