To the Editor:

Congratulations to the Law Center for adhering to Georgetown’s Catholic tradition by deciding not to fund abortion advocacy groups through summer public interest fellowships (“Law Center Divided Over Denial of Funds for Abortion Rights,” The Hoya, April 13, 2007, A3).

Such a decision can only be characterized as courageous in light of a history of misguided decisions by past administrations. The Hoya’s article made clear that, unfortunately, Ms. Woodson and others who favor abortion rights confuse the issues of academic freedom and educational excellence at a Catholic university.

Their mistake is to equate “tolerance” for an idea with the obligation to pay for its expression, a mistake that betrays an apparent intolerance toward this university’s mission and identity.

Georgetown University and its Law Center have every right to select the causes they will fund. Furthermore, withholding funding from groups that promote a practice that Catholicism has condemned since its earliest years is not academic fascism. Ms. Woodson may rest assured that she is perfectly free to express her personal beliefs whenever and wherever she wants to on Georgetown’s campus, albeit in a way not subsidized by Georgetown’s dime.

This decision does not debase the education provided by Georgetown’s law program. Rather, it demonstrates that Georgetown University is Catholic and that respect for all human life is not an anachronistic or quaint notion, but rather a compelling and highly current one that rightly drives the modern university’s disbursement policies.

As law students ourselves, we are sympathetic to Ms. Woodson’s predicament of having funding for her summer plans rescinded this late in the year.

However, as sympathetic as we are, to insist that her activities be subsidized by a university that deems abortion morally reprehensible is a tragic misconception of academic freedom.

J.B. Horgan (SFS ’05)

J. Brooken Smith (COL ’00)

April 18, 2007