A Purdue University staff member has verbally attacked pro-life Purdue students for their recent efforts to educate the campus of abortion’s disproportionate toll among black babies, going so far as to suggest raping pro-lifers.
For Black History Month, Purdue Students for Life hung posters around campus bearing messages such as “Hands Up, Don’t Abort,” the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, and directing students to the Too Many Aborted website, an initiative to spread black pro-life activist Ryan Bomberger’s message that “nowhere in America is” the “human tragedy” of abortion “more prevalent than in the Black community, where nearly 40% of all pregnancies end in induced abortion.”
The campaign inspired a number of hateful reactions posted on Purdue SFL’s Facebook page, the most notable of which came from Jamie Newman, a dance accompanist and composer with the school’s Visual & Performing Arts department. He called the pro-lifers “vile, racist idiots, who richly deserve all the opprobrium that will be heaped on them as a result of this unbelievably thoughtless, stupid escapade,” and claimed that timing the posters with Black History Month suggested they were either “embarrassingly dumb or simply evil.”
Newman also took to his own Facebook page to “strongly urge” others “to visit their Facebook page and leave an appropriate message. I have.” On February 7th, national Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins called on Purdue to “take immediate steps to severely discipline Mr. Newman for his outrageous and hurtful insults and lack of example of tolerance.”
Days later, Newman made several comments on a thread here at Live Action News, in which he said:
My hypothesis is that if your wife, daughter, sister, or mother were raped, you’d see to it that any resulting fetus was aborted pronto. Shall we attempt to arrange an experiment that might test my hypothesis? […] Oh, I’m sorry. So, let me make my intentions quite explicit: I did in fact offer to rape Tom’s wife/daughter/great grandmother. Free of charge, even. I’m generous that way.
Purdue University released a statement that there was not “sufficient evidence to take action” against Newman, and while “the speech was repugnant and inconsistent with Purdue values,” “at this time no personnel action is intended.” Newman subsequently told local media that “the idea that I actually threatened to rape some random stranger’s wife and children” was “a complete fabrication, but one built on a fragment of a much longer conversation.” Newman has refused to apologize for his comments, shown here.
“Purdue must terminate their relationship with Mr. Newman now,” Hawkins declared. “For the past week, our students have been called ‘racists,’ ‘human garbage,’ and ‘ignorant c*nts.’ They have courageously stood their ground and have met with black students who were offended by their educational display to explain their event and ask for help for future events. But now the safety of our students has been put into risk.”
The Stream notes that Purdue University’s president is Mitch Daniels, the former governor of Indiana and a pro-life Republican, and calls on readers to urge him to take action on the matter by contacting him at president@purdue.edu.
UPDATE 2/15/16: Newman has resigned his position at Purdue.
