Christian college allows pro-life club after resolving 'misunderstanding'

A California college student has successfully launched a pro-life club on the campus of her Christian college after administrators originally rejected her attempt to start one.

Key Takeaways:

• Linda-Isabella Rendon tried to start a local SFLA chapter at Vanguard College, but was denied because administrators believe the group has an "ideologically driven mission."

• After help from SFLA and repeated meetings with school officials, Rendon was able to start a different pro-life group without the SFLA affiliation.

• The school reportedly is now welcoming her efforts to bring pro-life awareness to campus.

The Details:

Linda-Isabella Rendon is a pro-life student attending Vanguard College, a Christian university in Costa Mesa, California. In a piece for the SFLA website, she described being "shocked" when she arrived on campus to discover the school did not have a pro-life club. She gathered 10 students, secured a faculty advisor, and submitted the paperwork necessary to start a VU Students for Life chapter.

"I had everything I needed to get started on campus to officially advocate for preborn lives and serve vulnerable families — everything but a rubber stamp from my school administration," she wrote. "As it turns out, this is the hardest thing to get when you’re pro-life."

To Rendon's surprise, the administration declined her request to start the SFLA chapter, telling her, “VU Students for Life would be considered to be organized around an ideologically driven social issue.” 

According to its website, "SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to equip those most targeted for abortion to change minds of their peers, transform communities by connecting women and families in crisis with non-violent support, and advocate for public policy that protects both mother and child from the predatory abortion industry." The organization has more than 1,500 campus groups throughout the country.

Despite a meeting with school and student government officials, Rendon's SFLA group was again rejected, and she was referred to a school policy declining “recognition of clubs with ideologically driven missions.” 

Rendon wrote:

"This confused and frustrated me. Weren’t we all supposed to be living out 'ideologically driven missions' as Christians shining light in a fallen world? Wasn’t that what my Christian university was supposed to be preparing us for?"

What's Happening:

Following the school's rejection, Rendon reached out to SFLA for assistance. According to Fox News, the organization sent a letter, signed by its attorney, to VU's president Michael Beals, and Vice President for Student Development Amanda Lebrecht, which stated in part:

"The goals of [Vanguard University Students for Life] are not to form a politically motivated club that would cause controversy on campus, but rather to defend the life of the most innocent and to give a voice to the voiceless. Linda-Isabella seeks to form a club for likeminded Christians to care for women that are struggling with a monumental decision, to help point them towards choosing life, and ultimately to help point them towards Christ."

Rendon told Fox News, "Students for Life really was very encouraging throughout this whole process with helping us, advising us on next steps and really helping us get out there, get the word out there on social media and with the article that was written. And so we published those. And then after that came out, we had another meeting with the president and the vice president just to clear up some things that there was some misunderstanding."

Pro-life student groups outnumber Planned Parenthood student groups 4 to 1

Once Rendon was able to clarify with administrators that her pro-life club was meant to be service-based through things like running diaper drives and baby bottle campaigns, and promoting pregnancy centers, she was allowed to start a club — albeit still without the official SFLA affiliation.

"Once we really shared our goal and our intention of this club is when we were able to make some progress," said Rendon. "We were told that Vanguard is pro-life, and they want to support a pro-life club, and so in the end, we will be having our pro-life club here on campus, and we are going to be naming it Vanguard Lions Love Life."

Lebrecht told Fox News that the school stands by its belief that SFLA has a political-action dimension — which is why it refuses to allow it — but is happy to support Rendon's pro-life group.

"As a university, we completely affirmed the value of human life and are delighted that Linda-Isabella and... others close to the work are advocating for the unborn and supporting women who are choosing to have children," she said.

The Bottom Line:

Rendon is happy that her efforts to bring a pro-life message to campus have prevailed.

"It's a very rewarding feeling," she said. "And all glory, of course, goes to God and the way that He moves, and only He knows everything that happened behind the scenes and the whole process. And so, God is so good in the way that He moves, and I know that this story will have an impact."