Events

Past Events

Sound of Freedom Movie Watch

December 2nd

The Knights of Columbus hosted SCOP for a viewing of Sound of Freedom, a movie about the horrors of the child sex-trafficking industry.

Speak Out Against Drag at ND

There is a drag show performance & “symposium” scheduled at Notre Dame on November 3. The University should not promote and fund this activism in the name of academic freedom. Voice your concerns to administrators using this student-run link: http://nodragnd.org

“Every year Sexuality, Integrity, and the University brings together hundreds of students, scholars, and experts from across the country to equip the college students with the best academic resources and arguments they need to bring the message of love and fidelity back to their campuses.

Conference participants will find ample opportunity to network with and learn from each other and can attend sessions by experts who will present us with their recent research and findings on the topics of marriage, family, and sexual integrity.”

Seminar at the Witherspoon Institute

November 9th, 2019

SCOP attended a seminar at the Witherspoon Institute on work and family life.

Visit to Princeton, New Jersey Art Museum and Chapel

November 9th, 2019

Members of SCOP visited the Princeton University Art Museum and the Princeton University Chapel.

Visit to Lehman’s Orchard

October 13th, 2019

The club made a trip to Lehman’s Orchard in Niles, Michigan to pick apples and raspberries.

“Man of God” Dinner and Discussion

October 11th, 2019

Father Terry Ehrman spoke to students over dinner about his book Man of God, which chronicles a man’s journey to overcome his addiction to pornography and to go on to have a healthy relationship with his wife and child. Students were also provided with copies of the book.

Fighting Irish Fighting Pornography

October 11th, 2019

We collected signatures on our petition to filter pornography at Notre Dame and provided resources to help student overcome struggles with pornography.

Conversations that Matter: How to Have Difficult Conversations About Porn and Addiction

October 10th, 2019

Licensed clinical social worker M.J. Murray Vachon spoke to Notre Dame students about how to discuss pornography addiction to friends and to help friends overcome their struggles. This event was co-sponsored by the Gender Relations Center.

 

The Business Case for Filtering Pornography

October 9th, 2019

Donna Rice Hughes, CEO of children’s internet safety organization Enough is Enough, spoke to the Notre Dame community about the business reasons pornography should be filtered on Wi-Fi networks. This event was co-sponsored by the Mendoza College of Business and the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture.

Read the Observer article on this event here.

No Harm in Looking, Right?

October 8th, 2019

SCOP worked with the Gender Relations Center to distribute pamphlets and posters to students with information about the harms of pornography.

Prayer Service for Those Affected by Pornography

October 8th, 2019

The Knights of Columbus and SCOP hosted a prayer service to pray for those with pornography addictions, those in the industry, and those affected by pornography addictions. Students lit a candle in the grotto for a friend suffering from an addiction or someone in the industry.

Tabling with Resources about Pornography

October 7th and October 8th, 2019

SCOP members spent two mornings distributing bagels, white ribbon against pornography pins, resources to help students overcome pornography addictions, and information about White Ribbon Against Pornography events.

White Ribbon Against Pornography Week

October 7th – October 11th, 2019

Our club hosted our fourth annual White Ribbon Against Pornography week to raise awareness about the harms of pornography, provide resources to students struggling with pornography, and argue for a filter on pornography on Notre Dame’s Wi-Fi network.

Read the Observer article on the week here.

Transgender Medicine and Children: What are the Facts?

September 26th, 2019

Dr. Paul W. Hruz, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of pediatrics, endocrinology, and diabetes and an associate professor of cell biology and physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Michelle Cretella, M.D., Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians, discussed the harms of cross-sex hormones and hormone blockers on children.

Read the SCOP letter to the editor of the Observer on the event: Transgender medicine and the treatment of children

Meetings

SCOP meets bi-weekly to discuss important issues relating to children. This year, we have discussed topics like surrogacy, adoption, gender transition, and marriage.

Board Game Night

September 13th, 2019

SCOP members hung out for a night of ice cream sundaes and board games.

Recruitment Event

September 3rd, 2019

SCOP officers provided information about our club to students interested in joining. We told students about our pillars: support of marriage, education, and adoption and opposition to pornography and drug abuse.

Beginning of the Year Party

April 29th, 2019

Returning members of SCOP met up for a night of minute-to-win-it games, ice cream sundaes, and cards.

Club meeting on the HIstory of Students for Child-oriented Policy with co-founders Tiernan Kaine and Tim Bradley

February 5, 2019

Founders Tiernan Kaine and Tim Bradley detailed the founding story of SCOP. At its founding, a student petition circulated calling for an end to SCOP due to its support for marriage between a man and a woman. The club was soon denied official university recognition. However, after national public outcry, Notre Dame reversed its decision and officially recognized the club.

ABC News Nightline Club Appearance

December 14, 2018

The club appeared on ABC News Nightline to detail advocacy for a pornography filter at Notre Dame.

White Ribbon against pornography week

October 22-26 2018

Monday, October 22: Einstein’s Bagel and Rep the White Ribbon and a Prayer Service with the Knights of Columbus

Tuesday, October 23: “Marriage, Family, and Happiness” with Professor of Economics Kirk Doran

Wednesday, October 24: “Sex and the Brain: the Impact of Sexually Explicit Media” with Dr. William Struthers and Dawn Hawkins

Thursday, October 25: Man of God Dinner and Discussion with Father Terry Ehrman

Friday, October 26: Fighting Irish Fighting Pornography: Sign the banner and petition for a Wi-Fi filter at Notre Dame

“Marriage isn’t something you do after you’ve grown up, marriage is something that helps you keep growing up, after you’ve already started.” -Doran

The part of you that [marriage] kills is the independent, proud, selfish part of you that doesn’t want to make sacrifices for others.” -Doran

Attendance at sexuality, Integrity, and the University Conference in Princeton, NJ

October 26-27

Every year Sexuality, Integrity, and the University brings together hundreds of students, scholars, and experts from across the country to equip the college students with the best academic resources and arguments they need to bring the message of love and fidelity back to their campuses.

Conference participants will find ample opportunity to network with and learn from each other and can attend sessions by experts who will present us with their recent research and findings on the topics of marriage, family, and sexual integrity.

Club t-shirt distribution in support of family

The Students for Child-Oriented Policy T-shirts says: “We support family: where life begins and love never ends,” to demonstrate our commitment to strengthening families in order to better the lives of children.

Cheap Sex: The Economics of Modern Love

April 11, 2018

SCOP is pleased to host Dr. Mark Regnerus, associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and a senior fellow at the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture. Prof. Regnerus will present on his book, “Cheap Sex: The Transformation of Men, Marriage, and Monogamy,” in which he relates the effects on the dynamics of the dating pool, often deleterious to women, of technologies such as contraception and digital pornography.

Valentine’s Day Campaign

February 14, 2018

SCOP is pleased to be a part of the national Valentine’s Day campaign, #TakeAChance.

Made possible by the Love and Fidelity Network, the campaign has spurred college students to “take a chance,” to push past media messaging that dominates popular campus culture, and to be more. By getting to know each other on authentic dates, not sexualized nights, we affirm that people are worth investing time, talents, and love into.

Check out the posters spread across campus – in your dorms, classrooms, dining halls, workout rooms, and study spaces. No matter what space you are in, think about it. You’re worth more. Others are worth more. Make a real date happen. Take a chance.

White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) Week

October 22-27, 2017

Sunday: 11:15 pm @ the Grotto // Prayer service for all those affected by pornography. Hosted by the Knights of Columbus.

Monday: 8-10 am @ DeBart // WRAP week pins and Rise’n Roll doughnuts- stop by to learn more about the week, and get some great resources!

Tuesday: 5:00 pm @ DeBart, Room 102 // PORN: On Both Sides of the Screen. Panel discussion with Crissy Moran, an ex-actress who has left the pornography industry, and Tray and Melody Lovvorn, a couple profoundly affected by pornography. Open to the public. Cohosted with the McGrath Institute for Church Life.

Wednesday: 5:30 pm @ Legends // Dinner presentation and discussion with Fr. Terry Ehrman, C.S.C., author of “Man of God: Lessons to Young Men about Life, Sex, Friendship, Vocation, and Loving with the Heart of Christ.” Men and women welcome. Open to Notre Dame, Holy Cross, and St. Mary’s students, but spaces are limited. Please RSVP by emailing sortiz2@nd.edu

Thursday: 8:00 pm @ Geddes Hall, Room B034// Presentation on hypersexualization in the media with Jess Keating and Brett Robinson of the McGrath Institute for Church Life. Open to the public.

Friday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. outside both dining halls // Sign our pledge banner and the petition to get Wifi filters for pornography on ND’s campus.

Children Conference

March 25, 2017

9:30am Opening Remarks

9:45am-10:30am Mary O’Callaghan Getting it Right: Down Syndrome, Prenatal Diagnosis, and Medicine

10:45am-11:30am David Lapp The Working Class Family

11:45am-12:30pm Chiara Sferrazza How to Choose Great Children’s Literature (and avoid Wimpy Kids) (Skype lecture)

12:30pm-1:15pm Lunch // Geddes Coffeehouse

1:30pm-2:15pm Tim O’Malley An Education for Family Life: How Universities Are Forming Future Spouses and Parents

2:30pm-3:15pm Jennifer Lahl The New Modern Family

3:30pm-4:15pm Clark Power Children and the Moral Imagination

4:45pm-5:30pm Melissa Moschella To Whom Do Children Belong?: Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children’s Autonomy

5:30pm-7:00pm Dinner // Coleman-Morse Center

“Obstetrics has taken a good—eliminating a disability—and turned it into an evil—eliminating a person.” -O’Callaghan

There is a need to return to a system that “makes possible a way of education that civilizes the human person and civilizes family life.” -Sferrazza

Adopting a Culture of Life

February 8, 2017

This panel features the stories of Cesili Forney, Trish Reimann, and Ande Verteramo, (birth mother, adoptive mother of four, and adoptee, respectively), and how they responded to crisis pregnancies with a disposition of life. Also, learn about the US adoption system from Mary Ball, director of Holy Family Adoption Agency in South Bend. Many in crisis pregnancies feel like they lack options and support, and this event will share the beauty that they found in adoption. The event is co-sponsored by Notre Dame Right to Life, and the Tocqueville Program.

“I really had to think about someone’s life other than my own…Now that I’ve chosen life for him, he can be whatever he wants to be.” -Forney

Coverage of the Event by the Irish Rover

White Ribbon Against Pornography (WRAP) week

October 30-November 5, 2016

Sunday: 11:15pm @ Grotto // Prayer led by Knights of Columbus

Monday: 8-10am @ Debart // Einstein’s bagels and WRAP week pins – stop by to learn more about the week, and get some great resources!

Tuesday: 5pm @ Legends // Dinner and discussion. Spots are limited, so please RSVP to Carolyn Ebner (cebner@nd.edu) by noon on Monday, 10/31 if you would like to attend.

Wednesday: 7pm @ Geddes, B036 // Professor panel “Uncensored: The Real Price of Pornography” featuring Margaret F. Brinig, Fritz Duda Family Chair in Law, Kirk B. Doran, Associate Professor of Economics, and Timothy P. O’Malley, Director of NDCLC and Professor of Theology

Thursday: 5 pm @ Geddes, Andrews Auditorium // “Pornland” documentary and Skype Q&A with Gail Dines, author of a book of the same title.

Friday: 11am-2pm @ SDH and NDH // Fighting Irish Fighting Pornography: Sign the pledge banner and petition for wifi filters

On Harms and Hopes: The Myriad Injustices of Pornography

April 14, 2016

Dr. William Struthers of Wheaton College and Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, spoke on the psychological, social, and relational harms of pornography. Sponsored by SCOP, the Center for Ethics and Culture, the Institute for Church Life, the Gender Relations Center, and the Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and Public Life.

“The Raising of America” documentary screening, followed by discussion with Brian Collier and Abigail Palko

January 28, 2016

Sponsored by SCOP and Edu Club, a viewing and discussion on the second episode of the mini-documentary series “Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation”, followed by a discussion led by Brian Collier, coordinator and supervisor for the ACE Teaching Fellows and Abigail Palko, associate director of the Gender Studies Program.

Adoption: Experiences and Perspectives

November 19, 2015

Sponsored by SCOP and the Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and Public Life, a panel on the role and value of adoption as a loving choice made for the sake of a child’s good, all things considered. Panelists included Tim O’Malley, Professor of Theology at Notre Dame, and Elizabeth Kirk of Ave Maria University.

Foreign Film Screening: Shower

November 11, 2015

Sponsored by SCOP, a free screening of the critically acclaimed Chinese film “Shower”. The film was introduced by Michael Bradley, a graduate student in theology at Notre Dame, and explores the values of family, friendship, and tradition.

To Choose or Not to Choose: A School Choice Panel

November 3, 2015

Sponsored by SCOP and the Education Club, a panel on the benefits and drawbacks of school choice policies and the changing landscape of modern education. Panelists included John Schoenig, Director of Teacher Formation and Education Policy for ACE, Maria McKenna, Senior Associate Director of the Education, Schooling, and Society Program, and Steven L’Heureux, an MBA student.

“I think one of the main issues that plagues our society is that we tie our methods to our purpose. People think: I am a voucher person, I am a charter person, I am a union person, and we become tied to these means. But these means are not the end; our true purpose is that we all want children to have higher educational outcomes.” -Schoenig

“Public education is a concept that the state has a sacred obligation to provide an education to its children, and the public school system is not necessarily the only way in which this can be done. We don’t necessarily have to keep doing what we have done in the past.” -Schoenig

Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom

October 5, 2015

Sponsored by SCOP and the Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and American Public Life. The Supreme Court has issued a decision, but that does not end the debate. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, Americans face momentous debates about the nature of marriage and religious liberty. Because the Court has redefined marriage in all 50 states, we have to energetically protect our freedom to live according to conscience and faith as we work to rebuild a strong marriage culture. Ryan Anderson draws on the best philosophy and social science to explain what marriage is, why it matters for public policy, and the consequences of its legal redefinition.

Marriage: What it is and Why it Matters

April 23, 2015

Sponsored by SCOP and the Natural Law Institute, a lecture on the meaning and significance of marriage by Melissa Moschella, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America.

Getting Schooled: Education in the Western Tradition

April 14, 2015

Sponsored by SCOP and the Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and American Public Life, a panel discussion on education in the western tradition featured Martin Bloomer, Professor Classics, spoke on education in Ancient Rome; Walter Nicgorski, Professor Emeritus in the Program of Liberal Studies, spoke on liberal education in Cicero’s though; and Thomas F.X. Noble, Professor of History, spoke on education in the Middle Ages.

“A liberal education provides us with the dispositions and skills to better understand the world and the self.” -Bloomer

“Questions of the just and the good are always present, and we must recognize that morality is central to our development.” -Nicgorski

“Education in its completeness requires friendship and agreement.” -Nicgorski

“In the utterly secularized world in which we live, relativism has made moral education difficult.” -Noble

Pervasive Porn: Exploring the Personal and Social Costs of Pornography

January 31, 2015

Pornography has emerged as a serious social problem in the internet age, due to ease of access and the explicit nature of modern pornographic material. Research and experience testify that the consequences of pornography consumption reach beyond the individual consumer and producer to society at large. Especially concerning is the growing prevalence of pornographic exposure among children; teenagers comprise one of the largest cohorts of internet pornography consumption. The problem is pervasive. Children, persons suffering from addiction, loved ones and family of those suffering from addiction: all are harmed by the ubiquity of pornography. The consumption of pornography carries decisively social consequences and is a matter for social concern.

This conference seeks to provide sound scholarship along with personal testimony and therapeutic experience in an effort to better understand the personal and social costs of pornography in modern society, and to explore means of addressing the porn problem with a specific regard for the well-being of the youngest and most vulnerable among us.

Sponsored by: Students for Child-Oriented Policy, Tocqueville Program for Inquiry Into Religion and American Public Life, Center for Ethics and Culture, The Irish Rover, Ethika Politika, Sycamore Trust, Love and Fidelity Network, St. Edward’s Hall, Zahm House, Morrissey Manor, Stanford Hall, Fisher Hall

Conference agenda

Pot: Hot or Not? The Young, American Democracy, and the Drug Problem

The former “drug czar” under President George W. Bush, John P. Walters, discussed the problems emerging from marijuana usage, specifically how it plagues the young.

“The argument that drug use is about the individual and their choices, this sort of libertarian argument, is flawed because the effects of drug use have a great ripple effect that especially impacts children. It is not an individual illness; rather, it is a cancer that eats at the relationships that hold our society together. This is precisely why the future of drug policy in the country will be so important as we move forward.”

-John P. Walters

Coverage of the event by the Observer

Editorial on the event by SCOP

For Richer, For Poorer, For Children: The Definition and Importance of Civil Marriage

McKenna Conference Center at the University of Notre Dame

Noon to 7 p.m. on April 3, 2014

What is marriage? What purpose does it serve as a civil institution, and why is it a political subject? As controversial as marriage has become across the country, these questions are rarely addressed. Many in the national media are more interested in pronouncing marriage a non-issue in politics than in examining the effects that civil marriage has on the youngest and the poorest among us. Here in Indiana, however, we should not ignore how important it is for these most vulnerable members of society that we properly define and promote marriage as a civil institution. This conference will gather student leaders from across Indiana to form a statewide network of advocates for marriage, properly defined, as a child-oriented civil institution that specially serves the poor.

Sponsored by: Students for Child-Oriented Policy, Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and American Public Life, the Irish Rover, Ruth Institute, the Strake Foundation

Conference schedule