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THE
Clarion Call CLARION UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1913
NOVEMBER 7, 2013
VOL. 100 ED. 9
Series speaker gets mixed reactions from audience Anastasia Bates STAFF WRITER
CLARION, Pa. - A feminist gave a controversial talk to students addressing issues including abortion and contraception, titled “Women, Sex and the Church” on Monday Nov. 4. Erika Bachiochi, author of the book “Women, Sex and the Church,” spoke of her story as a pro-choice activist and how she became the pro-life campaigner she is today. Speaking before the show Bachiochi said, “I look at abortion, basically sex outside of marriage, marriage itself and contraception.” She added that she does not use theological arguments but bases her research on data. Her presentation featured personal experiences of her change in opinion as well as multiple ideas including a theory called “reproductive freedom.” The talk also portrayed arguments from 19th-century pro-life activists as well as 1970s pro-choice activists. She then took questions after her presentation. “You never know who’s going to be in the audience or what their conceptions are,” Bachiochi said. Bachiochi also added that the most striking reaction she recalls to date was how adamant Boston
Britt Cihal / The Clarion Call
Author of “Women, Sex and the Church,” Erika Bachiochi, speaks in the Gemmell Multi-Purpose Room. college students were for being pro-abortion. Thomas McConnell, president of Students for Life at Clarion University said, “We actually had a speaker last fall, her name was Angela Franks. She and the speaker we are having today are actually very good friends and they recommended each other. We trusted her. The topic that she’s talking
about, “Women, Sex and the Church” is a book she wrote about how in the past 50 years, different movements have been going on; proabortion, the push for contraception, she’s going to be talking about how they really affect women. That kind of viewpoint is something that college students do not really hear much,” McConnell said. “It’s go-
ing to be interesting to see what kind of comments we get, I guess.” Her ideas received mixed reactions from the audience. Bachiochi’s speech caused a particular reaction with freshman Natalia Naranjo, “I felt like she was not getting her point across, she was contradicting herself left and right. The things she was saying
were pretty negative, and I saw them as hateful towards women. I actually left pretty mad from her speech because of the fact that she was portraying feminism in a negative light. She was in no way representing women, and their movement towards equality with men. She was down casting women, and the way they are seen in not just sex and the media
Sage Meadow closing Mark Emch BUSINESS MANAGER
CLARION, Pa. - Recent budget cuts, retrenched faculty members and department closings affect the university directly, and some say the actions are having an indirect affect on the community. Amongst these is Sage Meadow, a quaint healthy food store situated on Main Street less than 50 feet from Fifth Avenue. Come Nov. 30, owner Pat McFarland will close the doors to Sage Meadow for good, after 15
years of business. Clarion’s Workforce Plan will eliminate a sizeable portion of her clientele. Under the Workforce Plan, the university will eliminate 35.75 currently filled positions, and not fill another 14 positions currently vacant, leaving a grand total of 42.75 eliminated positions. “Those are my customers,” said McFarland. “They are all my list of people that do business with me. It makes it really hard for me to keep going.” McFarland also noted the poor state of the local economy and the
consumers’ predilection for online shopping as causes for her business’s shutdown. “Online shopping has taken over the market,” said McFarland. “These websites allow anyone and everyone to buy at the same rates I buy.” Despite the closing of her business, the future is not bleak for McFarland, who will assume a position as a legal secretary only a block away from her current location after Sage Meadow closes. For further information on the store’s closing, visit the Sage Meadow Facebook page.
THIS WEEK’S EDITION
Inside
INDEX
Todd Pfannestiel holds annual CU Ghost Experience. FEATURES PAGE 6
Clarion University wind ensemble performs.
Young core looks to help Clarion women’s basketball.
ENTERTAINMENT PAGE 9
SPORTS PAGE 12
News Opinion Features Classifieds Puzzles & Comics Arts & Entertainment Sports Standings
2 4 5 7 7 8 10 11
but in day-to-day life.” Disagreeing with Naranjo however was Andrew Murray, a senior level student. “I found the speaker to be more interesting than I thought at first, at least the content she was presenting. To be honest, some of the things that she talked about, like how woman try to be equal to men through contraception devices and birth control, never really occurred to me that being the case. Nor did it occur to me how easy men have it when it comes to sexual relations. Not to say that I am unaware of the potential consequences but it never dawned onto me how much of gap there is between men and women when it comes to that sort of thing,” he said. Murray continued, “I can say that some points I felt that I agreed upon, such as refraining from sexual actions till marriage and such is usually the best route to take. However, when she spoke about the infertile cycles that women go through and how it is ‘safe’ to participate in sexual activities, I feel like that is not entirely accurate and could spell disaster for couples or unexpected surprises if the infertile cycle is misread.” Bachiochi’s talk was part of the Mary L. Seifert Cultural Series themed “In God We Trust?” The event was sponsored by the Newman Association and Students for Life.