Byline: Chase Duncan, Guest Writer
The Winthrop Council of Student Leaders (CSL)has lost its authority to charter new student organizations after it denied chartering to a Winthrop chapter of the pro-life advocacy organization Students for Life America (SFLA), following an unanimously approved resolution by the Board of Trustees.
Winthrop President Edward Serna announced in a campuswide email message sent out on April 7 that after looking into CSL’s review process for multiple new student organizations, including the denied charter request from SFLA, he rescinded the denial of WSFL on February 17, 2025.
The email included a link to the resolution passed by the Board of Trustees that removed chartering privileges from CSL.
“On April 4, 2025, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the recommendation in a resolution to shift decision-making authority to the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs,” Serna said. “In addition to reassigning the authority over new student organization applications, the responsibility for allocating student activity funds to eligible campus clubs and organizations was transferred to the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. The Board also conveyed oversight responsibility to me regarding these areas as well as to make recommendations to the Board for any changes needed with regard to student governance matters.”
SFLA first presented at CSL’s February 3 meeting, where they presented the goals and intent for their organization, which is to “educate people on abortion and help women who may be pregnant and in need on our campus,” according to Winthrop’s SFLA President Riley Dill.
Dill said that after waiting for 20-30 minutes, they received the news that the chartering of their organization was tabled without giving clear reason, according to an article published by Dill on studentsforlife.org.
Four days after the meeting, I finally received an email about how to explain my group better,” Dill said. “They gave two reasons. The first was that my mission statement was not the same as the one on the SFLA website, which is questionable because that night, I didn’t see them look at the website while I was there. Plus, this student group is distinct from the national organization; while both are aimed at education on abortion and protecting life, they do have the exact same mission. The second is that some of the council members believed that I would be giving medical advice instead of women going to medical professionals.”
Two weeks later, SFLA presented their revised presentation again to meet the chartering standards set out to them by CSL. They received a veto decision within five minutes, according to Dill.
Their “reasoning” was laughable,” Dill said. “When I asked why I was denied, the dean said, “Well, they’re all human, and there might be too many emotions with this topic.”
Jael Hodges, Honors and Trio representative on the Council of Student Leaders, was in the room when CSL deliberated on whether or not to approve the chartering for SFLA. She said the atmosphere of the room was tense even before SFLA began their presentation.
“You could tell that this club is something that a lot of people were going to disagree with
but the members of CSL were still trying to hold their professionalism and be respectful,” Hodges said. “After the club pitched it, they asked if there was any question from the csl and a lot of people raised their hand to put in their two senses. As the questions kept going the room got more and more tense.”
Hodges said that people eventually began verbalizing and speaking their disagreements during the club’s answers, elevating the stress in the room.
“As the question and answer volley kept going,members of the csl group became frustrated,” Hodges said. “Some left the room mid delegation, some were raising their voice, and some even used inappropriate language when giving reasons as to why they felt like the club shouldn’t have been chartered.”
Hodges said that during the meeting, there seemed to be a tug of war between two different factions of CSL.
“There seemed to be an unspoken battle between the students of CSL and the executive members including Dean Slack,” Hodges said. “The executive board tried to remind the students that they needed valid reasons to not charter the club besides having opposing viewpoints and the students trying to argue that they do have valid reasons besides just disagreeing with their politics.”
Winthrop’s SFLA chapter was subsequently approved for chartering by the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, with Riley Dill as its president and Elisa Koelher as its faculty advisor.
Serna and the Board of Trustees concluded the announcement of CSL’s revocation of chartering privileges by reaffirming their commitment to free speech.
“The Winthrop University Board of Trustees reaffirms its commitment to the rights of freedom of speech and expression as appropriate under the First Amendment to the Constitution and Winthrop University policy as well as the mutual respect, accountability, civility, and appropriate conduct required to protect persons exercising free speech and expression,” the Boards resolution said.
CSL and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs did not provide a comment when asked for a statement on the chartering of SFLA and the loss of the council’s chartering privileges.
“I do think that not chartering the club was the right decision when it comes to the safety
of potential mothers on campus,” Hodges said. “But I’m worried for the sake of CSL in general, I hope nothing comes from our final decision to not charter and I just have to hope that we didn’t risk our power for change on behalf of students for this one club.”