Roughly 16 students involved with VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood met at the Union Sports Annex Thursday night for an unofficial meeting to discuss another possible application for recognition as a student organization next semester.

“We want to get this done,” said senior Natalya Dobrowolsky, whose initial application for VOX Marquette was denied Oct. 10 by the university.

“We are not going to go away,” Dobrowolsky said. “It’s time to have a group on this campus that educates students about sexual awareness. It’s so hard to do on a Catholic campus but we’re going to continue to try.”

VOX stands in “direct opposition to (the university’s) mission,” according to a letter sent to Dobrowolsky by Coordinator of Student Organizations and Leadership Pam Larde.

It has been indicated that if the group was to drop pro-choice activism from its purpose statement the university may be more willing to allow the student organization to develop, according to Dobrowolsky.

“We are willing to drop the pro-choice activism from our stated proposal as long as we get some form of sexual awareness group going at Marquette,” Dobrowolsky said. “It was indicated to me that if we did make that change, becoming a recognized student organization might be easier.”

“It may become easier for them if they do drop the pro-choice activism,” Larde said. “But again; there are no guarantees.”

Students who attended the gathering voiced concerns about the need for a sexual awareness group.

“It is imperative for people our age to be educated about sexual health,” said junior Laura McGrath.

“Pro-choice activism is not something that is imperative in understanding sexual health,” Mcgrath said. “So I would be willing to give it up as long as it got us a sexual awareness group on campus.”

VOX’s application to become a Marquette-sponsored organization stated the purpose of the organization is to “educate the university community about reproductive health and rights, to translate increased awareness into pro-choice activism on campus, and to serve as a coalition partner to state, national and international reproductive rights efforts.”

If VOX was to drop the pro-choice activism there would still be a conflict between the proposed group and the Catholic view of human sexuality.

“Even without the pro-choice activism the Church would still be against such a group,” said Assistant Director of University Ministry the Rev. Will Prospero. “The Church believes in the sacredness of human sexuality and this type of group would be promoting illicit sexual behavior.”

Only student-recognized organizations are allowed to reserve space for official meetings but in this case there was no conflict with university policy.

“It was not inappropriate for them to meet there at that time,” said Ben Tracy, director of university communication. “We are not in the business of policing private conversations among students. However they would not be allowed to reserve space for any official meetings.”