Notre Dame Professor Secretly Books Campus Rooms for Condom and Plan B Distribution...

University ignores deception, blatant policy violation​

A Gender Studies professor has secretly booked rooms for Irish 4 Reproductive Health (I4RH) using a fake club name. I4RH, an unofficial student group, uses the reservations to meet and distribute contraceptives on campus—a direct violation of university rules.

Professor Pamela Butler, Associate Director and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Gender Studies Department, books the rooms under the “Gender Studies Club,” an organization that does not exist on Notre Dame’s club database. I4RH uses Butler’s reservations to host students in Debartolo Hall, where the group distributes free “resource bags” for attendees, which contain condoms, Plan B, and cards with information on abortion services for students.

As I4RH told the Rover, the group is “not affiliated with the University in any official capacity, nor do we intend to be.” Student Activities Office (SAO) guidelines limit the use of campus rooms to official student clubs only, which would prevent I4RH from meeting on campus in an official capacity. Despite this, I4RH uses Instagram to publicly advertise its meetings in Debartolo Hall.

Butler primarily researches “feminist, queer, and trans theories of race and racialization” and “reproductive politics,” according to the Gender Studies website. She teaches courses on “Feminist and Queer Prison Studies,” “Race and the Politics of Reproduction,” and “New Readings in Transgender Theory,” which she is offering this spring.

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