On Jan. 29, the Official Seton Hall University Instagram account, @SetonHall, posted an image of students who recently attended the March for Life in Washington D.C.
The post generated over 850 comments while the average post typically receives anywhere from zero to ten comments.
A few of the commenters were proud of the post and expressed confusion as to why others were vocally upset. “Proud of @setonhall for featuring those that are attempting to fight the good fight #respect for life” and “You all went to a Private Catholic University whose belief is that life begins at conception.”
However, the vast majority of comments were upset with the University for uploading such a post, with current students, alumni, and prospective students voicing outrage.
Kendy Rudy, a potential student from New Jersey commented, “No. I’m no longer applying to your school.”
“In no way does the post make Seton Hall look diverse,” they responded when asked about if the post makes the school appear diverse. They added that they had “seriously considered it [Seton Hall] in the past” but were no longer interested.
Rudy was not the only non-student upset with the post as Gabby Heffernan, Class of 2018 commented that, “When you call and ask me to donate I will say no and refer you to this post.”
Several current students were upset with the post, Zach Shaw, a junior majoring in communications, was critical of the post and commented on whether he believed it crossed into political territory.
“Absolutely, given the Make America Great Again slogan visible in the image, which is a political slogan and it is completely inappropriate,” Shaw said. He went on to state that the post should be taken down and “issue an apology to those offended.”
Darby Debonis, a junior nursing major, called out the University for not posting about a student organized march held last semester commenting, “Why did @setonhall not post about March for Our Lives? That seems pretty pro-life to me.”
Debonis went on to comment about what trouble her the most regarding the post.
“Seton Hall claims bipartisanship, and the content of the this post failed to uphold that façade,” Debonis said. “The post also alienates a wide variety of students, many that are not represented in the photo taken.”
She did also share that a fellow student recently told her that students can submit posts to Web Development to be approved or denied and found it “interesting that Seton Hall’s Campus Ministry, those organizing Christmas celebrations and Involvement Fairs, as well as alumni are the only groups that possess knowledge of this tool.” SGA President Rishi Shah also highlighted the process at the Student Government meeting Monday night.
Luke Schreder can be reached at luke.schreder@student.shu.edu
