right to l ife is without president, faces turmoil

ISA SHEIKH

notre dame news editor members of the university’s largest student group, notre dame right to life, received a series of two letters dated april 2, 2023, addressing turmoil and turnover in the club’s ranks. The correspondence capped a constitutional debate that lasted for weeks within the anti-abortion group, and an even longer period of interpersonal strife in the club’s higher ranks. in a six-and-a-half-page letter sent to members of the club, former president merlot fogarty wrote to address “questions in the past several weeks over the intentions of several members of the board, the process of deliberation of the constitution and what this means for the club in the coming years.” fogarty, a junior in ryan hall studying theology and political science, marked the end of her tenure in her letter: “my term began on april 1st, 2022. it is now april 2nd, 2023. Thus, i am no longer your president. no one has been elected. my term has come to an end.” in her letter, fogarty heralded the club’s accomplishments over the past year and called her leadership of the club “one of the most beautiful and remarkable experiences of my life.” she also detailed a year of tensions and broken trust, as well as painted a portrait of her deteriorating mental health. fogarty has shared her history of anxiety publicly and has discussed how coming from a broken family led her to anti-abortion activism. in october, a board retreat was held, and fogarty writes she “regained a sense of peace and confidence in the board, my leadership skills and the amazing work we were doing to change hearts and minds on campus.” but that didn’t last long.

“i began hearing a lot of details of my personal life in conversations around campus with people i had never spoken to before. board members had been sharing with others the struggles i had been facing in my personal life, to paint me as an incompetent leader,” she alleged.

This tension seeped into the club’s work.

“The factions on board became more visible in meetings as certain people sided with each other and separate group chats were made,” fogarty wrote. a sitting member of the board, seeking anonymity because of the threats and harassment they say they have received, said fogarty’s letter came as a surprise.

“we were not aware of our former president’s intent to step down or of the letter she wrote to the club, but felt the confusion that resulted from it deserved an immediate response. a majority of the board gathered on sunday for hours to determine what we felt was necessary to say,” the board member wrote to The observer.

The board member wrote that “among other things, the board has received anonymous threatening emails that include assertions that ‘we will not forgive. we will not forget. we are watching.’”

Jose rodriguez, the club’s vice president for design, said the four-page response letter emerged from a “secret group chat” that excluded himself and other members of the board.

“The response is not intended to speak for every member of [the] board unequivocally, but the majority of board members were consulted. as we noted, this year, and especially the process since [the constitutional referendum], has been incredibly painful and deeply saddened all of us, see righT To life PAGE 3 hope foundation. as Kay told The cut, one such message read: “Tamara Kay should be a** f***d under Touchdown Jesus at noon.” others were filled with similar threatening or inappropriate language.

Kay and the gofundme description reported that she has received harassment and remains dissatisfied with the university’s efforts to protect her safety and academic freedom.

The irish rover, a self-professed catholic, conservative newspaper run by notre dame students and faculty advisors, reported that the sign on Kay’s door and a capital letter “J” meant that she was willing to help notre dame students access abortions, citing since-deleted tweets that mention information on how to attain plan c pills and emergency contraception.

Kay did not respond to requests for comment on the meaning of the signage previously on her door. no students reached out to her while the sign was up or since it has been taken down. The signage remained on display for 10 days before maura ryan, vice president and associate provost for faculty affairs, and r scott see Kay PAGE 5