Drexel University has decided to cancel its controversial course on abortion after just 7 weeks. Drexel made local headlines when they decided to offer a course that solely focused on the topic of abortion, now amid national criticism the university has decided to end the course.
Drexel is a university that has routinely done things a little differently to get noticed. The school has long lived in the shadow of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania and other Big 5 schools. Drexel has been run on trimesters instead of semesters and they have placed an emphasis on internships.
The recent decision to shutdown Abortion 101 by President John Anderson Fry was difficult. "Drexel University is committed to offering courses you cannot find anywhere else. However in this case university administrators realized that the offering of the course was not well thought out but rather started on a whim. Rather than let the course run through the rest of the trimester we decided it was best to end things as soon as possible. We just wanted this problem to go away and did not want to deal with this for years to come."
14 students were enrolled in Abortion 101, taught by Professor Maureen Roe. The students will receive their money back for the course and a free course to be used in the future. The course consisted of freshman and sophomores.
In recent weeks the course had drawn protesters to 34th and Market St. in Philadelphia. There was confusion as to what was being taught in the course and both pro life and pro choice protesters were concerned about the course.
Pro Life activist Moucho Vil Derra stated "Drexel should know better than to have course on abortion. You can't talk about that stuff in schools it ain't right." Pro Choice activist Mary Thurston did not want students to be steered against abortion. "I don't know what they are teaching those kids but it better be that abortion be good."
One Drexel University administrator discussed the protests on the condition of anonymity. "These people are out here on their bullhorns for 6 hours a day protesting about a course they never attended. Imagine if they put this much effort into finding a job. I assure you that Drexel was allowing the students in the course to make their own informed decision but once again we have given into political correctness."
HT:everythreeweekly.com (I heard they ran a similar headline in the past but I never found the story)
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