Pro-Abortion Professor Sues Conservative Newspaper at Notre Dame – The American Spectator
On May 22, Tamara Kay, a professor of global affairs and sociology at the University of Notre Dame, filed a defamation lawsuit accusing the Irish Rover, a conservative student newspaper at the university, of lying when it claimed that she publicly offered to help students obtain abortion pills via a sign on her office door.
On Tuesday, the 2022–2023 staff of the Irish Rover released a statement defending the publication against the lawsuit. They stated that they “will not be silenced” and “will not apologize for just and truthful reporting that helps Our Lady’s University stay true to its Catholic mission.” (READ MORE: Notre Dame Goes All-In on Pride)
In October of 2022, W. Joseph DeReuil, the Irish Rover’s then–editor-in-chief, reported that Kay had a sign on her office door that read “This is a SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL Healthcare issues and access — confidentially with care+compassion.” The sign included the letter “J,” which DeReuil said denoted her willingness to help students access abortions.
In a Twitter post that the Irish Rover reported on, Kay had stated, “We are here (as private citizens, not representatives of ND) to help you access healthcare when you need it, and we are prepared in every way. Look for the “J”, Spread the word to students!” The Irish Rover also published a photo of the sign.
DeReuil told The American Spectator that he decided to write the article because he was concerned that “abortion was being promoted on the campus of Our Lady’s University.”
DeReuil attended an on-campus panel featuring Kay and three of her colleagues titled “Post-Roe America: Making Intersectional Feminist Sense of Abortion Bans.” Afterward, he approached Kay for an interview. The Irish Rover reported that she told him: “For me, abortion is a policy issue. And yes, my view runs afoul of Church teaching, but in other areas, my positions are perfectly aligned.”
When the Irish Rover’s article was published on Oct. 12, 2022, it went viral, and Kay began receiving backlash, according to New York Magazine. The following day, Kay claimed on Twitter that DeReuil had never interviewed her. She then deleted the tweets that the Irish Rover had referenced in its article and stated on her Twitter bio, “I don’t speak for my employer (duh!).”
DeReuil shared a recording of his interview with Kay with National Review. In the recording, he clearly identifies himself as an editor at the Irish Rover before asking her any questions.
Kay later qualified her statement, saying that she was unaware that she was being interviewed or recorded. Indiana is a one-party consent state when it comes to audio recordings, meaning that DeReuil had no responsibility to inform Kay that he was recording her.
Kay Sues Irish Rover For Defamation
The lawsuit asserts that DeReuil wrote “false and defamatory” statements about the sign on Kay’s door.
The lawsuit also alleges that Kay was inaccurately quoted in a subsequent Irish Rover article. That article, which was written by Luke Thompson, concerned an event hosted by Notre Dame’s College Democrats in which Kay discussed her employment at the university and her pro-abortion advocacy.
The Irish Rover quoted her as saying at the event, “If you have that academic freedom you should use it.” In a recording obtained by The American Spectator, Kay actually said “if you have it” before trailing off. The comment was made in the context of telling students to take advantage of their academic freedom. (“I think Jenkins’ statement [distancing Notre Dame from Kay’s pro-abortion views], basically — I was surprised. It actually suggested that students also had academic freedom. So that was — I mean, I think that’s — that was something I was quite tickled by. And, you know, so — if you have it!”)
DeReuil told The American Spectator that staff members of the Irish Rover “try to quote sources as accurately as possible, obviously editing any grammatical errors, as any publication does, but keeping the statements accurate and never changing meaning…. Mr. Thompson abided by these principles in writing his article.”
The lawsuit claims that the two articles are “defamatory per se and establish a willful intent to portray Dr. Kay in a negative and disparaging manner consistent with a motive of bad faith and a reckless disregard for truth and falsity.”
The suit also claims that Kay “has been harassed, threatened, and experienced damage to her residential property. She also has suffered mentally and emotionally and experienced and continues to experience mental anguish and fear for her safety.”
Irish Rover Will File Counter Motion
The Irish Rover, which is represented by Bopp Law Firm, plans to file an anti–SLAPP motion. According to the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press, journalists and news organizations use anti–SLAPP laws to “protect themselves from the financial threat of a groundless defamation case brought by a subject of an enterprise or investigative story.”
If the court approves the motion, Kay must bear the burden of proof. If the case is dismissed, Kay must pay for the Rover’s attorney fees, per Indiana state law.
DeReuil said that the newspaper has received support and encouragement from students, alumni, and professors, although he has not yet been in contact with the university’s administration.
“Nearly all of the response I have heard to the report of the lawsuit has been supportive,” he told The American Spectator.
“If anything, the editorial team has grown closer through this unfortunate circumstance,” DeReuil said. “No students, to my knowledge, have distanced themselves from the Rover due to the lawsuit. Everyone involved has been incredibly helpful to me and our current editor-in-chief, Nico Schmitz. We hope that response to the lawsuit can give us energy leading into the fall semester to report even more effectively and thoroughly on all aspects of Notre Dame’s Catholic identity in the fall.”
Aubrey Gulick is a recent graduate from Hillsdale College and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Fellow at The American Spectator. When she isn’t writing, Aubrey enjoys long runs, solving rock climbs, and rattling windows with the 32-foot pipes on the organ. Follow her on Twitter @AubGulick.
Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.
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Read More: Pro-Abortion Professor Sues Conservative Newspaper at Notre Dame – The American Spectator