Dear Fellow Students and Faculty:

As you may have noticed in the last few weeks, there has been increasing controversy concerning the upcoming performance of the musician Aimee Mann on December 14. We, as individual members of the Harrisburg chapter of Rock for Life, have undertaken a campaign to ask the school not to hold this concert; we believed her to be an active member of the pro-choice movement. We based this campaign on the information and evidence provided to us by National Rock for Life, our parent organization. However, it has recently become apparent that the evidence on which we have based our campaign has been severely misrepresented to us. It is not our belief that National Rock for Life intended to mislead us, but it is our opinion that they have misinterpreted the facts.

The most substantial piece of evidence that has been used to portray Aimee Mann as a pro-choice activist is her inclusion on the benefit CD entitled Safe and Sound. The given purpose of this CD is to raise funds and awareness to prevent violence at abortion clinics. This CD was released in response to a specific event in which two people were murdered at an abortion clinic in Boston, MA. While it is possible that funds from this CD were used not only to prevent violence but also to keep abortion clinics open, we do not now feel that there is nearly enough information to claim that this is what Aimee Mann intended. We have received information from Aimee Mann's manager that she in fact does not take a strong stand on the issue of abortion.

We believe that the information we have been spreading through our campaign was misrepresented to you, and in many cases false. While this was completely unintentional, we realize now that we have an incredible responsibility to reconcile the situation.

We feel we should begin by offering our apology to the campus. With the information given to us, we feel we were acting on sound principles, and as ethically as possible. We never tried, in any way, to condemn Aimee Mann as a person, or to deny her the right to her own beliefs. However, we should have based what we were doing on our own research rather than what was given to us by the National organization.

We also offer our apologies to the administration. It was never our intent to damage the reputation of the administration or the college as a whole. We are very disappointed that this has happened. Although we do not think that we as individuals had an intentional part in this, we feel we should apologize for any of our actions that have resulted in this. The administration in general, especially President Sawatsky, has been very understanding of our position and our respect for them has been strongly reinforced. The Student Activities Board has also earned our respect by working closely with us to resolve this issue.

Finally, we feel we owe a sincere apology to Aimee Mann herself, which we intend to deliver in person, for any damage we may have done to her reputation. We plan to do everything within our power to repair this damage. Again, we regret everything we have done to misrepresent her views, beliefs, and actions.

We recognize the seriousness of what has been done, and we know that it cannot all be solved in one simple letter. All we can do is humbly ask the forgiveness of the students, faculty, and Aimee Mann for what we have done. Due to the nature of what has happened, we are, as individuals, reconsidering our association with Rock for Life. We would also like to assure the campus that in light of what we now know, we no longer consider the petition that we have been circulating to be valid. While there may be a continued campaign based on the remaining evidence to prevent this concert, the undersigned will no longer take part in it.

We hope, after doing our part to resolve this that we, as a college community, can live in a spirit of forgiveness and can be reconciled to one another. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely:

Kevin Stanton
Drew Bryden
Sarah Schroeder
Alyssa Van Veldhuizen
Joel Mcintosh
Lacey Leatherwood
Justin Arawjo
Mason Noden
Bria Grace Murray
Heather Finch
Esther Demaggio
Julian Forth

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