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Published: February 9, 2010

“The soul of goodness”

St. Mary’s College in Moraga names poetry scholarship in honor of Planned Parenthood director, volunteer

St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga has named a $2500 poetry scholarship in honor of a former Planned Parenthood director and another woman who served as a volunteer for the abortion provider.

The Vanessa Bedient and Molly Reidelberger Scholarship for Excellence in Poetry was named after Bedient, former director of Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara, and Reidelberger, who worked as a volunteer for Planned Parenthood for 15 years.

Here is how the St. Mary’s College website describes the two women: “Vanessa Bedient (née Stribling) grew up in Piedmont, California and attended Scripps College, the University of Washington, and UCLA. She served as the director of Planned Parenthood in Santa Barbara, where her two children were raised, and later in San Francisco. She loved literature and the arts, and was the soul of goodness.

“Molly Reidelberger lived in Singapore for a number of years, and volunteered at the Melrose Home for orphaned or abandoned children. She received her paralegal certificate from Saint Mary's and worked as a legal assistant in the San Francisco Bay area for a number of years. In addition, she volunteered at Planned Parenthood for 15 years.”

St. Mary’s describes itself this way: “We're a Catholic, Lasallian, liberal arts college, and we're rooted in the life and work of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers and the patron saint of teachers. Our traditions and heritage inform everything we do.”

Despite its self-proclaimed Catholic identity, the college apparently sees no conflict between the faith and associations with Planned Parenthood. A résumé posted on the college’s website for Shawny Anderson, Associate Dean for Liberal Arts, notes that Dr. Anderson was responsible for “Choice, a 2-song ‘cassingle’ (one song on each side of a short cassette tape), produced as a fund-raiser for the Tecumseh Area Planned Parenthood Association, released in Fall of 1992…”

Also in 1992, according to the St. Mary’s website, Dr. Anderson received a $1000 award from the Share It Now Foundation “for continuing social and political service for the completion of the ‘Choice’ project to benefit Planned Parenthood.”

St. Mary’s School of Education also offers volunteer internships at Planned Parenthood for students enrolled in two specialties in its Master’s program in Counseling – Marriage and Family Therapy, and Pupil Personnel Services.

In October 2008, the St. Mary’s student newspaper, The Collegian was one among three college papers on Catholic campuses in California and 42 nationwide that ran an ad for Trojan brand condoms. The ad included a request that those who saw the ad "help us donate 1,000,000 condoms now."

In January 2009, St. Mary’s found itself embroiled in controversy after inviting 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers to speak on campus as part of a series of lectures the school called “Against the Grain.” In 1969, Ayers co-founded the Weather Underground, a radical left-wing group that planted bombs in public buildings, including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and a New York City police station.

St. Mary’s College of California was founded in 1863 by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. In 1868, the school was turned over to the Christian Brothers, who have run the school since. In the early 1960s, the Diocese of Oakland was formed and St. Mary's is now located in that diocese.

According to the school’s website, St. Mary’s currently enrolls 3840 students – 2514 undergraduates and 1326 graduate students. Tuition and fees total $33,250, and room and board costs $11,680, for a total of $44,930 per year.

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