A campus pro-life club has dropped its lawsuit against the University of Victoria Students' Society after its revoked club status and funding were restored.
The anti-abortion group Youth Protecting Youth settled out of court its complaint that its right to freedom of expression had been violated with the student association's board of directors last Tuesday.
"This is a great victory for YPY," club president Anastasia Pearse said in a press release. "We interpret the UVSS' concessions as an admission of wrongdoing, and we're happy with the new direction it's taking."
YPY lost club status in February after UVSS received 32 complaints from students saying they felt harassed by the group's actions and posters. The pro-choice student association claimed the pro-life group violated its harassment policy.
"I've always taken the position that the board of directors has the right to decide where its priorities are and where it wants to spend money, or where it does not want to spend money," UVSS chairman James Coccola told ctvbc.ca.
The driving force behind the board's side of the settlement was money.
"One of the biggest concerns was cost," Coccola said. "For us to basically step into court would cost us anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000, and that was a cost that we didn't feel we could really afford."
The BC Civil Liberties Association intervened in the case in support of the pro-life club.
Spokesperson John Dixon told ctvbc.ca that it's wrong for a student society in a public university to punish students for their views on moral issues and that universities need to welcome open discussions.
