HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – A pro-abortion Northern Kentucky University professor led members of her class on a “search and destroy” mission on April 12. Sally Jacobsen, actions, a tenured NKU professor, resulted in school sanctions, criminal charges and a nationwide debate over where freedom of speech ends and malicious abuse of another’s rights begins.

   Jacobsen has been on campus since1980. She was teaching her Studies of Contemporary British Literature when, during a break in the three-hour period, she invited members of her class to join her in destroying the pro-Life display.

   Northern Kentucky University is a 15,000 student metropolitan campus located just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The newly formed campus group Northern Right-to-Life had, with university permission, constructed a “Cemetery of the Innocents” display comprised of 400 white wooden crosses. The crosses, placed on a grassy hill in front of the NKU Fine Arts Building, symbolized “that almost 1/3 of out generation is gone and lost to abortion,” said Northern Right to Life president Katie Walker. “That cemetery was to be essentially a memorial to our lost peers.”

   According to witnesses and NKU campus police Jacobsen and 10 of her students entered the Cemetery of the Innocents and proceeded to first knock down, and then gather up the crosses and place them in garbage receptacles around campus.

   Jacobsen initially told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to."

   Jacobsen said she was infuriated by the display and likened its destruction to that of Nazi and Ku Klux Klan displays on Cincinnati’s Fountain Square which have been dismantled by angry citizens during past Christmas seasons.

   "Any violence perpetrated against that silly display was minor compared to how I felt when I saw it. Some of my students felt the same way, just outraged," Jacobsen said.

   A copy of the official NKU Police Report on the incident obtained by CCN-USA shows that the incident was originally classified as “theft” and estimated property loss as approximately $600.

   Harold Todd – Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety (DPS) at NKU told CCN-USA

   responding officers “talked to a couple of witnesses who were there” and took statements from NKU Right to Life members. The following day, according to Todd, DPS investigators, began interviewing witnesses, the students involved, and Jacobsen.

   The 400 crosses had been up for three days before they were vandalized. Walker said she initially wasn’t surprised to find out that the display, which took the 20-member group two hours to construct, had been torn down. “There’s a very strong liberal faction of students on campus. So we were almost anticipating that it would be torn down.”

   But Walker – and the public – was stunned when the perpetrator’s identities were revealed. “When the news got back to me that it was a professor who had encouraged and invited her students to take down the crosses, it was such a shock,” said Walker. It’s still sinking in that a professor would do it.”

   Walker said she was similarly astounded that Jacobsen would defend her actions by claiming it was within her free speech rights to do so.

   Todd said among the charges Jacobsen and her students could face are criminal damaging of property and vandalism and other Class D felony charges.

   The NKU Right to Life group recovered most of the crosses from the trash bins where they had been discarded. But Todd estimated at least 40 had been broken or damaged to the extent that they were unusable.

   David Tobergte, an administrative sergeant and Community Outreach officer with the NKU Police force said the responding officers reported that “there were broken crosses lying around and all the other crosses were gone. They looked around and found most of the crosses were in the garbage cans spread around the plaza.”

   It (Northern Right to Life) is a campus student group - it’s not a religious group by any stretch of the imagination.”

   According to Tobergte, DPS officers initially had trouble finding witnesses who could provide complete accounts of what transpired. “There was a Fine Arts professor who saw it going on but didn’t know who any of the people were.” Tobergtke said another NKU staff member witnessed the act and described it as “several young females in t-shirts and blue jeans tearing up the crosses.”

   Jacobsen reportedly initially denied any involvement in the destruction of the crosses. That is until a series of photos appeared in the online edition of NKU’s student newspaper The Northerner showing Jacobsen as a very active participant in the vandalism. One photo even shows Jacobsen destroying the “Cemetery of the Innocents” sign which was never recovered. Ironically, Northerner Editor Sarah Loman was a student in the comparative literature class. Upon hearing Jacobsen’s “invitation” Loman sensed a story-in-the-making and grabbed her camera and followed the marauding pro-abortionists to the campus plaza and photographed the group in the act. Loman declined further interview with local and national news outlets, telling CCN-USA she preferred not to be a part of the story.

   After the incriminating photos were published Jacobsen then issued a brief apology for her actions during a WKRC TV-12 newscast. However only hours after that “apology” rumors began to surface of a “bombshell” e-mail sent from the professor to her co-conspirator students.

   Tobergte confirmed that in an April 18th e-mail Jacobsen sent to the students involved in the display’s destruction she instructs them to hide from the police and not give any statements. "If you have not yet been interrogated… you can make it hard to find you.” Jacobsen also advises those involved to "stay away from LA 517." (LA 517 is Jacobsen’s office in NKU’s Language Arts building.)

   “Her telling the students to go ‘lawyer up’ and make themselves scarce from us…that was just more bad advice on her (Jacobsen’s) part,” said Tobergte.

   She further advises the students in the memo, “…My advice is to get your attorney to plead you down to a misdemeanor."

   Jacobsen then takes another swipe at pro-Life advocates. "The well-funded Right to Life groups that are pushing for this need felony convictions, I believe, in order to file civil suits for damages."

   The “well-funded” statement made Paula Westwood go ballistic. Westwood, the Executive Director of Greater Cincinnati Right to Life called Jacobsen’s e-mail “a stereotypical and misguided view of those with pro-life convictions, which she again is foisting upon students.

   “One blatant example is her assertion that Right to Life groups are well-funded, when we are entirely non-profit, kept going by donations, and provide free services, while abortion "non-profits" have a predictable and lucrative return from killing babies.”

   Westwood, an NKU alumnus who ironically holds a degree in English Literature added, “The fact that she is providing legal advice to students to target those she hates, is grounds for serious professional discipline."

   Walker termed the e-mail “typical’ of the now disgraced professor. “If you look at her other actions…the total disregard for the law, when I read that e-mail I found it very in character for her.” Walker added that Jacobsen has yet to apologize to Northern RTL for destroying their exhibit.

   Incredibly, Tobergte said Northern’s DPS officers have yet to talk directly to Jacobsen. But Tobergtke said it’s not been due to lack of effort. “One of our detectives was at her office looking for her and she just happened to come through there. He said she (Jacobsen) basically just slammed the door in his face.”

   In fact, Tobergtke said DPS officers didn’t know the exact extent of Jacobsen’s involvement “until Thursday morning. (April 13th).”

   Tobergte said Jacobsen’s boasting helped tie her to the incident. “She was calling people, bragging about it and telling everybody what she did. A whole lot of people knew about (the details) but nobody bothered to tell the Police Department until Thursday morning.”

   Though Jacobsen had tried to discourage them from doing so in her e-mail, several of the offending students did go to Campus police officers and volunteered statements. Tobergtke said NKU police interviewers said the students described the following scenarios. During the English Lit class Jacobsen told her students she was “appalled and outraged” at the cross display. “The students said they felt compelled strongly to go out and assist her in tearing it down. Whether they were afraid (non-participation) was going to affect their grade, I don’t know,” said Tobergtke.

   Asked by CCN-USA whether any of the students felt coerced into going on the private property destruction ‘Field Trip,’ Tobergtke said, “That’s the general consensus I’m getting.”

   Tobergte acknowledged that while people hold strong divergent viewpoints on abortion and other social issues, for a professor to condone and invite student participation in violent property destruction is beyond the pale.

   “We have a college professor who is looked up to by students…” (and due to her position) “deemed to be fairly knowledgeable, telling them that they are within their rights to go out and do that. Obviously she was wrong. It’s probably good she taught British Literature and not Law.”

   The U.S. Supreme Court has previously determined that such instances of “symbolic speech” cannot be banned from public universities.

   The Northern RTL members got together the same night following the vandalism and by 10:30 p.m. had managed to recover most of the crosses and reassemble the display. “We put it back up that night,” Walker acknowledged. “We were determined the display was going to be back up by morning. We didn’t want anybody to have that satisfaction of knowing it had even been down.” Walker said Ryan Jones “stood guard until 3 a.m. to make sure that no one else touched it.”

   The following night all 20 members of the group camped out next to the “Cemetery’ to ensure its safety from any subsequent vandalism.

   The “Cemetery of the Innocents” sign (which a Northerner photograph shows Jacobsen in the process of destroying) was never recovered. A new sign – “We Were Given the Truth of Life and We Will Never Be Silenced” – took its place in the reconstructed display.

   Northern Kentucky University President James Votruba told CCN-USA that while Jacobson was entitled to her pro-abortion beliefs those views did not justify her destructive actions and that by involving her students she had grossly misused her power of position.

   Dr. Votruba, who came to NKU from Michigan State University in 1997 and holds a Masters of Arts degree in Political Science, conceded that Jacobsen’s students may have felt coerced into participating in the destruction of the crosses.

   “I suppose that, at some level, the students were willing participants but they were no doubt influenced by their professor who took advantage of her position.”

   The problem of "Indoctrination" on college campuses throughout the country, particularly by Liberal professors advancing their political/Social views in the classroom, has drawn a lot of recent attention.

   “It has become increasingly evident that most university campuses are not bastions of free exchange of ideas, but incubators of liberal agenda where Christians, conservatives, and pro-life/pro-family students and faculty are ostracized or demeaned,” Westwood said.

   Asked by CCN-USA what Northern was doing to insure that "teachers teach" and not espouse personal convictions on Socio-Political issues Votruba replied, “NKU has a history of balance when it comes to socio-political issues. We have spirited debates on issues that tend to split citizens into liberal and more conservative camps.”

   Votruba elaborated on that theme in a April 17th statement on the cross incident released by the university.

   “One of the important roles that a university must play is to be a forum for debate and analysis concerning the important issues of the day. Often these issues are surrounded by strident rhetoric and strong emotions which makes it even more incumbent on the university to create and nurture an intellectual environment in which reason and evidence prevail and where all points of view can be heard.

   “At their best, universities are… places where ideas collide as students and faculty search for deeper understandings and perspectives.”

   Saying Jacobsen exhibited a “severe lapse of judgment” Votruba added, “While the University supports the right to free speech and vigorous debate on public issues, we cannot condone infringement of the rights of others to express themselves in an orderly manner. By leading her students in the destruction of an approved student organization display, Professor Sally Jacobsen’s actions were inconsistent with Northern Kentucky University’s commitment to free and open debate and the opportunity for all sides to be heard without threat of censorship or reprisal.”

   Both Votruba and NKU have received substantial praise nationally for their handling of the matter. For example, a Wall Street Journal Online piece said in "Three Cheers for NKU"..."Many presidents of more prestigious schools could learn a lot from Votruba."

   And according to the Cincinnati Post, NKU received an email from a woman in another state saying her teenage daughter is interested in attending NKU due to how the university handled the vandalism. NKU’s Faculty Senate, representing more than 1,000 Northern faculty members likewise issued a statement April 17th announcing the passage of a resolution reinforcing the importance of freedom of expression and inquiry as a foundation on which any university is built and declaring that, “Interfering with another’s right to free expression is unacceptable on a university campus.”

   Reaction around the NKU campus has been generally highly critical of Jacobsen’s role in the vandalism and of the act itself. An online poll at The Northerner’s website asks: “Do you think that Dr. Sally Jacobsen should have charges pressed against her?” As of April 19th 83% said “Yes” while only 17% responded “No.”

   Message board posts on the subject at The Northerner’s online site were running about 3-1 against Jacobsen and destruction of the display. Some posts were decidedly anti-Christian however, such as the anonymous writer who wrote April 14th: “Why can't these uppity do-gooders keep their opinions to themselves. Abortion is a touchy subject, but so is invasion of privacy. KEEP YOUR GOD OUT OF MY CAMPUS!”

   To which another poster replied: “It's not YOUR Campus. It's OUR campus. We ALL paid taxes for it which means that ALL points of view are allowed there. The only thing NOT allowed are the Campus officials themselves forcing a certain point of view on the students. i.e. the professor leading a group of students to destroy an exhibit put up by other students.”

   Votruba acknowledged that, “Even those who may support the professor’s values distanced themselves from her actions.”

   A letter to The Northerner seems to bear that out. Signed by Nancy Slonneger Hancock, a member of “The Educators for Reproductive Freedom,” a pro-abortion campus faculty group, Hancock said that the group "neither knew about nor participated in this act of vandalism, and we most certainly do not condone it."

   But Walker said since the incident happened, the Educators for Reproductive Freedom “have doubled and tripled” their efforts on campus. “They’ve got a table set up on the plaza every day now distributing pro-choice information.” Reactionary students are now starting up pro-choice campus groups as well.

   Asked if the situation were reversed, if a conservative professor had led an assault on a pro-choice or pro-homosexual campus display, Walker said flatly, “They would have been stoned. The fall-out (nationally and locally) would have been greater than what’s happened to Sally Jacobsen, that’s for sure.”

   Walker said the uproar and publicity have however benefited Northern Right to Life. “We’ve seen so much support on campus for our group,” adding that e-mails, phone calls and new member inquiries keep pouring in.

   Votruba said in addition to the favorable national attention, the cross destruction incident has actually turned into a positive for Northern.

   “Yes, I believe that it has been a positive. The incident should not have happened but, given that it did, many positives have resulted. Among them has been a reminder of what universities exist to do.”

   The NKU Policy Manual under section C 7.4 defines staff Misconduct thusly:

   ”A staff member who conducts himself in a manner that reflects unfavorably upon the University, the department, and himself will be subject to immediate discharge, without advance notice and without further pay…”

   Asked whether Jacobsen’s actions – i.e. vandalism and criminal destruction of private property by a professor would constitute “reflecting unfavorably upon the University,” Votruba said the professor’s retirement package was not in jeopardy.

   ”I expect no further discipline of students or professor. Professor Jacobson was suspended from her classes, publicly rebuked by me and by the faculty senate, denied summer teaching, and still faces possible prosecution. I don’t believe that the students deserve any further discipline. They’ve learned a valuable lesson.”

   Jacobsen has been removed from all her classes and placed on paid administrative leave from the University for the remaining 10 days of the Spring Semester. She will then retire from NKU, a move that was planned long before the campus vandalism incident.

   After the first few days of the furor over her actions, Jacobsen has ceased talking to the press, instead directing all further inquiries to her attorney, Margo Grubbs of Grubbs Law Firm in Covington, Ky.

   All the controversy occurred prior to Northern Right to Life’s inaugural event – an April 25 kick-off at the University Center Ballroom featuring noted pro-life Kentucky Rep. Addia Wuchner and a showing of the video “The Silent Scream.” Alerted by the media attention given to the “Cemetery of the Innocents” vandalism, pro-abortion protesters, most of whom were non-NKU students from out of state, harassed event goers.

   Walker maintained such actions, and those of Jacobsen, do not faze she and her fellow Northern Right to Lifers. “I think it has the opposite effect. It just highlights the battle for us. We see who our enemies are and what kind of mindset we need to fight. It was done to intimidate us but instead it inspired us. It’s made us much more determined.”

   On April 27th Campbell County Prosecutor Justin Verst announced that Jacobsen and six of her students were charged with misdemeanors for their roles in the destruction of the pro-life cross display. Jacobsen was charged with criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking and criminal solicitation (for involving the students).

   The criminal mischief and solicitation charges are class B misdemeanors punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $250 fine. The theft charge – listed as a Class A misdemeanor – carries a possible sentence of up to one year in jail and a $500 fine.

   The students - Laura Caster,

   Michelle Cruey, Stephanie Horton, Sara Keebler, Heather Nelson, and Katie Nelson - were charged with theft by unlawful taking and criminal mischief. The students ranged in age from 21-27.

   Verst left open the possibility that more of Jacobsen’s students could be charged at a later date as more details of the crime become known.

   Tobergte said NKU police and Commonwealth Of Kentucky attorney Jack Porter had discussed possible felony charges against Jacobsen but that Porter had deferred to the Campbell County Prosecutors office decision to pursue misdemeanor charges instead.

   University officials said they intend to wait until all legal proceedings have run their course before deciding on any potential disciplinary action against the students.

   Grubbs said Jacobsen currently plans to plead not guilty at her court appearance May 11th.

   Todd said the incident was the first of its kind at NKU.

   Votruba expressed regret that the incident disrupted the NKU campus, but said he was satisfied at how it was handled. “The University acted quickly and decisively in this matter, reaffirming our commitment to free speech and inquiry and taking action against a professor who abused her role.”

   Surmising the on campus events of the past three weeks Walker theorized, “We must be doing something right, if the pro-choice movement is so afraid of what we are doing that they feel the need to rip up a small display of little white crosses.”