Letters to the Editor
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WDUQ is not an academic venture
From the station's website: "Duquesne University holds the broadcast license for WDUQ 90.5 FM's 25,000-watt broadcast signal. The station is a non-academic unit reporting to the Provost and Academic Vice President. Duquesne University provides DUQ with annual in-kind support (facilities and services) and 6% of cash funding."
In any case, we all know the radio station has a legal right to refuse whatever money it pleases. No one is saying it's illegal. But it makes them look silly to the general public.
Of course, they're not making this decision so they can look good for the general public. It's a decision based on principle (well, also because the church could lose some big donors and political friends otherwise...). My beef with it is the obsession of Catholics with reproductive rights. The vast majority of right-to-life folks voted for Bush for a second term, even though he is responsible for the slaughter so many innocents in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you're really making decisions on principle, you should be opposing war and other injustices just as vehemently as you oppose birth control and abortion. And there are plenty of social justice Catholics out there, but that is only one wing of the Church. As a body, they are much more likely to take a vocal public stand on reproductive issues than on social justice. Are they going to start scrutinizing all their underwriters - or is this decision really just based on the fact that having announcements from Planned Parenthood makes them look bad?