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Marquette Republicans raise funds for snipers

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Also by Sundeep Malladi:

In-Depth: What's affected by budget cuts? (September 1, 2005)
In-Depth: Rising past the numbers (November 10, 2005)

by Sundeep Malladi

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Members of the College Republicans at Marquette University were forced to dismantle a booth sponsoring the “Adopt a Sniper” program Jan. 31 during Marquette Mission Week.

Marquette spokesperson Brigid O’Brien said school officials found the booth not in accordance with Catholic values or the Marquette Mission Week’s theme of “constructing peace.” Mission Week is a series of events intended to reflect on the university’s mission statement.

However, “Adopt a Sniper” program coordinator Brian Sain said the Texas-based organization is dedicated to aiding ill-equipped snipers in Iraq.

UW College Republicans Chair Nicole Marklein said the program was not something the student political organization sponsored nationwide. However, she said, it is not necessarily a fair decision on Marquette’s side.

“That’s not necessarily sitting with free speech … [but] since it’s a private university, they can do that,” Marklein said.

Despite the College Republicans’ apparent desire to help support troops in Iraq, many individuals, including Marquette’s Office of Student Development, were alarmed with their choice of display.

A slogan displayed on the booth, “One shot, one kill, no remorse, I decide,” was one of several “non-Catholic themes” the OSD sought to remove from campus grounds. However, Marquette College Republican Chair Brandon Henak said the OSD took the slogan out of context, and that it refers to another meaning altogether.

“It is similar to the U.S. Marines’ slogan ‘Semper Fidelus,’” Henak said.

Henak said the booth was open for an hour before it was removed from the Alumni Memorial Union.

“We were shut down and told not to continue,” Henak said.

The decision to remove the booth was not a welcome by all since Henak and the College Republicans decided it was appropriate for the Mission Week’s theme of “constructing peace.”

According to Henak, supporting the “Adopt a Sniper” program was a worthy one, because students knew their money was going towards a portion of the military that caused very few collateral deaths.

“[Snipers offer] no collateral damage and no innocents killed,” Henak said. “We chose admission week because it was the best way to construct peace.”

According to Henak, snipers in Iraq are in need of more effective equipment for their field of combat.

“Standard issue equipment does not allow them the mobility to sharp shoot, and they often have to take them off,” Henak said. “What we wanted to be able to do was to help protect them, and to help raise funds for that organization.”

The sniper organization’s involvement in the Iraqi war has helped raise more than $300,000 and is helping support 108 platoons of snipers.

Still, O’Brien said the College Republicans were not completely exact in their intentions when they proposed a “Support the Troops”-type event. O’Brien said the OSD was not aware that the College Republicans would be supporting the “Adopt a Sniper” program.

“For people seeing [the slogans] with no other context, [there’s an issue],” O’Brien said. “Without context, without discussion — that [booth] really wasn’t appropriate.”

Although Marklein said free speech was a main issue, she said she would not tell people the motto in question.

“It would be interesting to see if something like that happened at a public university,” Marklein added.

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Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 7:51am):

what do you expect from a university that changed its mascot from the warriors to the golden eagles?

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 2:20pm):

I think Marquette should change its mascot again, this time to the Marquette Frenchmen. It would more suit not only the university's history, but also the university's present actions.

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 3:20pm):

That is a good point. I think Marquette was a french explorer. Marquette is catholic and also tends to run away from challenges, i.e. mascot "controversy" or giving in to political correctness rather than supporting our troops
So yes, I too believe the Marquette frenchman should be a suitable new mascot

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 3:21pm):

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 4:15pm):

I'd suggest a "French Surrender Monkey" as Marquette mascot.

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 6:31pm):

"French Surrender Monkey" is redundant. All surrender monkeys are French.

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 10:17pm):

Golden eagles is so much better than warriors. The French have nothing to do with this. Marquette was smart enough to realize the booth could be taken out of context, they support the troops. The "Adopt a Sniper" program is a bunch of gun-toting Texans who support the troops as well, but I'd rather support another group of non-gun-toters.

Anonymous (February 8, 2005 @ 11:23pm):

Interesting that this wasn't the original headline - it didn't mention anything about snipers, just the 'troops'.

And, hey, Nicole Marklein, still working on the Nader campaign?

Anonymous (February 9, 2005 @ 5:21am):

"[Snipers offer] no collateral damage and no innocents killed," Henak said.

Since insurgents don't wear uniforms, how does Henak know if there is collateral damage or not.? The military doesn't keep records of dead Iraqi's.

Anonymous (February 9, 2005 @ 9:11am):

Readers who are concerned alumni of other Jesuit Universities-- and High Schools-- should check on similar situations at their Alma Maters...any such extremeism hurts the community, which are intended to be places of higher learning and in the Scholastic sense, of intellectual LIBERALITY, and of refuge and havens for those who seek solace and some appropriate protection from the vicissitudes of the too frequently violent shifting world around us. Activity that hurts community was second in graveness only to sacrilege and blasphemy when I studied under the Jebbies...
A new regime of ultra-conservatives has taken the reins at many Jebbie schools, and extremist proponents of violence and hatred such as these "Campus Republicans" evidently feel safe and smug in the new and improved NeoCon ambience when they so brazenly flaunt all Christian and Catholic standards, and flout such lunacy. Would be campus groups such as The Black Panthers, The Weathermen, et al were personae non-gratis years ago. Is there any reason that right wing NEOCON extremists should receive more cordial treatment from various campus' administrations?

Anonymous (February 9, 2005 @ 9:30am):

Ms. O'Brien and the Marquette U. Admin. acted properly, correctly, and moderately in response to the "Free Speech" canard floated by these extremists.

If they wish to send up a trial balloon for wanton slaughter in the name of Christ, let them introduce it in campus debating circles or something like that. That is the proper context for exercising their right to freedom of speech. Certainly, their point of view is so predominant in national commercial media broadcasts in general, they can hardly claim to espouse a POV that is under-reported and under-represented.

Just read for a while at Free Republic dot com for a while...it will put all such behavior in its necessary context...or, if you can stomach it, read latrine wall scrivelling in truck stops along I 265...

An sagart costarneacht signing off....