It was not until recently that I learned the implications of this association. In planning this week's "Vigil for Life," the various sponsors of the event approached other campus groups in search of co-sponsorship. When we were met with a particularly cold response from the Amherst Feminist Alliance (AFA), I started thinking. Was it possible that being a feminist on this campus meant that you had to be pro-choice? It had never occurred to me that a pro-life viewpoint would alienate me from a group of women through which I had found a significant voice.
From day one at Amherst College, as we entered as unsuspecting first-years, we were taught not to make assumptions about our peers. It was understood that everyone came from very different places and had very different views of the world. However, once Orientation ended and campus life really began, we fell back into our same habits. As a Republican, it is assumed that I am a crazy conservative who spouts my mouth off to CNN about the lack of intellectual diversity on this campus. As a Peer Advocate of Sexual Respect and a participant in the Vagina Monologues, it is assumed that I am in a constant struggle for women's rights, fighting against male oppression and for female equality. However, the one thing that never occurs to the Amherst population is that somewhere, these two parts collide to form a system of beliefs that is not so black and white. I have no doubt that other moderate people like me exist on this campus, probably in the most unlikely of places.
As Amherst teaches, things in the real world are not just black and white. It is ironic, then, that Amherst's student clubs should take such a different perspective. So often, debates turn into voices of the Left versus the Right, Liberal versus Conservative, right versus wrong. However, the arguments surrounding abortion run deeper than political division. They encompass moral arguments, religious beliefs and personal convictions. My pro-life viewpoint does not define who I am. As a woman in higher education, I realize every day the importance of feminism. It stuns me that the Feminist Alliance would be so quick to alienate people such as myself by perpetuating such a widespread assumption of its membership. Members of the AFA are assumed to be pro-choice, and this belief is apparently not widely questioned. Given the Feminist Alliance's huge endorsement of the upcoming "March for Choice," it does not appear there is room for "pro-life feminists," if they ever exist. However, catering to a majority viewpoint seems to be an acceptable standard on this campus, with many other clubs taking similar actions.
We complain about political apathy on campus; perhaps it is because the political atmosphere at this College is such that we spend most of our time alienating the student body. Perhaps we have become too black and white; it is either Conservative or Liberal and students groups are caught supporting one or the other. In all the talk of politics, it seems that we are making everything political. There is no in-between, and many of the most powerful groups on campus are viewed as either Liberal or Conservative. Events such as the Vigil for Life were founded on the hopes of transcending lines of Democrats versus Republicans; pro-life Democrats do exist on this campus, as do pro-choice Republicans. Organizers were hoping to gather people of all political viewpoints who united on the basis of a pro-life viewpoint; however, given the outcry to this approach, it seems that not even a centrist and moderate attempt at it is welcome at Amherst.
It is saddening to think that we have gone so far astray from the teachings that Amherst encompasses. The idea of celebrating our diversity, both intellectual and situational, seems far behind us as we bicker on the Daily Jolt about partisan versus non-partisan events, and events "tainted with political money." Perhaps in the future, student groups will consider the implications of their affiliations, and realize that we are alienating each other instead of working for common goals that could unite even the most unlikely members of the Amherst community.