Student's Pro-Life Campaign Shakes Up Harvard.(Brief Article)

In recent years, college campuses - - where the free exchange of ideas ought to be the coin of the realm - - have instead become places where dissent from the liberal pro-abortion party line is not tolerated. Often no where is that more the case than in elite eastern universities and frequently the issue is abortion.

Matt Evans, a third-year Harvard Law School student, has challenged the university's pro-abortion orthodoxy by posting mild-mannered, seemingly inoffensive pro-life signs on campus bulletin boards. Despite being mocked and derided, Evans said he has seen signs that some people are re-examining their unthinking support for abortion.

Evans got the idea for his pro-life campaign when writing a paper on abortion and adoption. He told NRL News that although he's always been pro-life, immersing himself in the facts and arguments about abortion gave him a renewed desire to express his beliefs.

Using his computer and a desktop publishing program, he made small signs reading, "Smile! Your Mom Chose Life." Printing them on cheerful bright yellow paper, Evans added orange highlighter to each message so it would be noticed. As he walked around campus beginning in early January, Evans stapled the signs onto public bulletin boards.

He quickly noticed that the signs were ripped down almost as soon as he posted them. "Luckily, I had a winter coat with lots of pockets," Evans said with gentle humor.

"I'd pack one pocket with the signs, one with a stapler, one with tape, and one with a highlighter." Patiently, peacefully, persistently, Matt kept replacing the torn-down signs. He went through over 1,000 in two months.

After a few weeks of his campaign, a female employee of Harvard stopped Evans as he was putting up a sign. "Are you the one putting up this sh--?" she inquired.