Pro-life students from the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, the University of Richmond and the College of William and Mary came together this past spring to form Virginia Collegians for Life. According to Stephen Braunlich who represents William and Mary Students for Life and now also serves as VCL’s board chairman, the new coalition’s mission is to help the pro-life cause by networking existing campus groups and fostering the growth of new clubs. “By keeping students in contact with one another, we will be able to learn about more pro-life opportunities and learn from one another’s trials and tribulations.”

Since its inception the network has added Washington and Lee University and George Mason University groups, and is helping students at the University of Mary Washington and Longwood University start new pro-life clubs. Braunlich points out that finding faculty sponsors for pro-life campus groups is sometimes difficult and delays the formation process.

An example of the benefits of groups working together occurred in September when Feminist for Life’s national spokeswoman Serrin Foster was invited to speak at the University of Richmond on September 21 and the following evening in Williamsburg. Sponsors of the successful campus programs open to the public were Richmond’s Spiders for Life and William and Mary’s Students for Life.

Virginia Collegians for Life will hold its first annual conference in the spring of 2005. Stephen Braunlich may be contacted at sabrau@wm.edu.

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, October 2004