Bringing SFL to Lewis University, Part 1

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Greg, and I am an undergraduate at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. I am working towards my Bachelor of Arts, with a major in Philosophy of Law and a minor in Print Journalism. Last October I attended the 2007 Conference at DePaul University, I have been involved with Students for Life since then.Throughout this school year, I have been working to bring Students for Life to my campus at Lewis University. Recently, we were recognized by the school and the student body as an official campus organization.I would like to share our story with you all, and I hope it will help anyone who either wants to start a pro-life group on their campus or finds their group to be struggling with student approval or campus policy.My hope is that you may, as I did, be able to take advantage of the resources and support provided by Students for Life of Illinois as well as our national affiliate, Students for Life of America.To begin with, it is important to note that Lewis is a Catholic university, within the Diocese of Joliet, IL, and being Catholic, the University's official stance is naturally pro-life. One would assume then that a pro-life group would have no problem gaining recognition and numbers, but as University activities are organized and coordinated by students (as on most college campuses,) the process can become quite difficult and often disappointing.Students for Life of Lewis University was conceived late last summer, when Brother James Gaffney, the president of LU, received a letter from both Bishop Sartain of the Diocese of Joliet and Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago, encouraging the promotion of a respect for life on campus at Lewis and the other Catholic campuses around the Chicagoland area. Along with the letter were various flyers and resources for different upcoming pro-life events and opportunities for students to take part in.Br. James brought the letter and information to the attention of Br. Joseph, the vice-president of the University, who took it upon himself to research and find out whether we actually had a pro-life group on campus - which we did not at the time.Now, all of this happened to be occurring at the same time that Aurora, IL. was in a tumult of pro-life activism over the new Planned Parenthood clinic, which had been deceptively and strategically placed in Aurora, IL. under the city's negligent and ignorant watch.I happen to be a resident of Aurora and a commuter.  So, although the school year was soon beginning at Lewis, I was still residing in Aurora and was actively participating in the fight to bring Planned Parenthood's deception to light.One of the events I had assisted in was the Youth for Truth Rally at the clinic in early September. I had sent out an email to many of the college campuses in the area, informing them of the hundreds of young people that will be attending as well as inviting them to take part as well and represent their various colleges and universities.I had also sent the email, which stated that I was a student at Lewis, to John-Paul, President of SFL Illinois, and he was generous enough to post the email on this blog (which in fact you can still find here.)Since my affiliation with Lewis University was posted on the blog, it was now circulating the search engines on the world wide web.  When Br. Joseph googled "Lewis, pro-life" my blogged email popped up as one of his hits.  He contacted me and asked if I was interested in starting a pro-life group on campus. I immediately jumped on the opportunity and met with him to obtain the resources that he had received from Br. James.One of the resources that had been passed along with the Bishops' letter was a flyer for the October SFL Conference, and so I attended.Aside from gaining the amazing friendships I have now, this conference gave me the tools I needed and the confidence to use them in carrying out our mission, which is to educate on life issues, to support pro-life legislation, and to promote a culture of life on campus.John-Paul had mentioned my situation to Michael Barnett, the SFLA field director at the time, and he came out the very next week to help me recruit at Lewis.During Barnett's breakout session at the conference, he had taught us a method of recruiting he called "clipboarding." Clipboarding allows the recruiter to walk around to the busier parts of campus and engage passers-by in discussion when signing members up, rather than using a recruiting table outside one of the dining areas, and waiting for students to come to you. (You can download a sample clipboard sheet here.)After two hours of recruiting, we had gathered about sixty names and email addresses from students who were interested in what would soon become Students for Life of Lewis University.