Davidson College students have taken to the streets in opposition of a new program that calls on bystanders who witness sexual assault to get involved and put a stop to it. Protestors say the program violates the privacy and rights of individuals to make personal decisions.
Waving banners declaring “Don’t violate my right to make private decisions” and “My body, my right,” protestors stood outside the Union Thursday afternoon, shouting slogans and handing out copies of Atlas Shrugged and the Libertarian Party platform to passersby.
“Look, all people, even potential rapists, have a right to privacy, and this new program violates that right. If some guy is starting to get too pushy, that’s something he needs to work out on his own. Who am I to step in and violate his right to make that personal decision?” said one protestor, who said he identified as a “fiscal conservative, but social liberal.”
Protestors said they are offended by the fact that the college administration wants to get so deeply involved in their private lives.
“They have no right to regulate what I, as a human being with a right to privacy, do in the bedroom. Asking students to stop me from assaulting someone is a fundamental violation of my rights,” said another protestor.
Protestors said they’ve been in contact with lawyers at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a libertarian nonprofit that defends conservative students’ rights to hand out copies of the United States Constitution and shout loudly at passersby about “liberal fascism” in the academy. Protestors said they plan to press suit if the administration refuses to back down and cancel the program.
The Davidsonion 