Marquette University has shut down a fund-raiser by Republican students for “Adopt a Sniper,” a group of police and military sharpshooters raising money for their U.S. counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Jesuit school said the wording on some of the signs and merchandise for sale at the student booth was bothersome, particularly the slogan, “1 Shot, 1 Kill, No Remorse, I Decide.”
“In the context of the university’s Jesuit, Catholic mission, we could not allow fund raising in the student union for a group whose rhetoric regarding ’snipers’ could be widely misinterpreted as having a cavalier attitude toward the taking of a human life,” the university said in a statement Wednesday.
The College Republicans had received approval from the Jesuit school to set up a table at the Alumni Memorial Union where they could sell bracelets and other trinkets to raise funds for the troops abroad.
The students then chose to promote the Pulaski-based sniper group.
“We thought that it was the most direct possible way to help the troops,” said Brandon Henak, the student group’s chairman. “What really touched us and was one of the big deciding factors on choosing them was the fact that they give (the snipers) the very body armor that enables them to stay safe.”
Posted on the “Adopt a Sniper” Web site are thank-you letters from U.S. sharpshooters abroad and a list of items — everything from rifle accessories to knives to Black Hawk strike gear. Supporters can make cash donations or buy a memento such as an Adopt a Sniper Challenge Coin for $15 or an Adopt a Sniper bracelet for $20.
The school ordered the College Republicans to end the fund-raiser Monday.