A left-wing professor at the University of Notre Dame, which is a Catholic school, is suing the student newspaper that reported on several of her provocative pro-abortion remarks, the paper’s editorial staff announced Tuesday.
The school newspaper, The Irish Rover, is facing a civil lawsuit filed in Indiana by Professor Tamara Kay. In the lawsuit, Kay claimed that two recent articles published by the Rover contained “defamatory and false statements” about her.
“Professor Kay’s allegations against the Rover are entirely false. And her lawsuit reflects only the latest stage in a tenured professor’s baseless public campaign against undergraduates at her own university who had the temerity to publish accurate stories about her very public abortion advocacy,” the Rover revealed on Tuesday in a piece called “We Will Not Be Silenced.”
“Since 2003, the Irish Rover’s mission has been to defend the Catholic faith and honorable traditions of the University of Notre Dame. As such, the Rover unequivocally supports the university’s commitment to the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death,” it continued before outlining specific examples of Kay’s pro-abortion advocacy.
In the Rover’s edition published October 12, 2022, it’s former editor-in-chief, W. Joseph DeReuil, reported on Kay’s pro-abortion advocacy. This included a university-sponsored lecture by Kay about “making intersectional feminist sense of abortion bans.” This came during the time that many states were enacting pro-life restrictions after the fallout of Roe v. Wade.
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Once the report was published, Kay responded by denying the statements she made that were included in the piece. Additionally, Kay tweeted that another student-run paper, Scholastic, doesn’t “publish lies.” She followed-up with a tweet claiming that the Rover is “not affiliated with ND, it’s not a ‘student publication,’ it has no journalistic standards, holds no ethics’ is run by faculty advisors who promote bigotry & connect students to national orgs that promote hate (see who reposted).” She claimed that the paper’s editor had not interviewed her. The Rover noted that it had a recording of Kay’s conversation with DeReuil, where he introduced himself, said he was an editor, and began asking questions.
In January, a GoFundMe page was reportedly set up to help Kay with the costs of “retaining legal representation.” Then, in an interview with left-wing outlet The Cut, Kay claimed that she was “weighing legal action against both the publication and the university.” She added that DeReuil did not tell her she was being interviewed.
DeReuil then received a letter from Kay’s lawyer of intent to sue the Rover for defamation and demanded the paper retract the story from October and one from March 22 to “mitigate the damages that may be awarded or recovered in this case.” The story from March covered more pro-abortion remarks Kay made, this time, to the College Democrats (via The Irish Rover):
Professor Kay filed the defamation suit on May 22. Her complaint alleges defamation in the October 12 article but does not specify any statement or aspect of the article that is false.
The complaint also objected to the brief summary of the October 12 article contained in the March 22 article—a summary that is a commonsense reading of the October 12 article and that aligns with the way Notre Dame administrators themselves interpreted Professor Kay’s messaging. Kay’s complaint also falsely claims that the Rover’s coverage of her presentation to the College Democrats was false or defamatory, as revealed by a recording of the presentation and ensuing question and answer period.
Simply put, the articles discussing Professor Kay’s abortion advocacy were fair and accurate in all respects. The record will confirm this beyond dispute. The Rover will not apologize for just and truthful reporting that helps Our Lady’s University stay true to its Catholic mission. To that end, it has produced important stories for twenty years and will continue to do so, with determination and resolve, Professor Kay’s baseless public campaign and lawsuit notwithstanding.
According to Notre Dame’s website, Kay is a professor of global affairs and sociology. Her “research interests” listed include “reproductive health and rights.”
“Kay also works on global health, including health systems and organizations, culture and health, and reproductive health and rights. Her multi-award winning article “Abortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America” explores the links between abortion, nationalism, and racism in the 19th century United States,” her biography on the school’s website mentions.
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