Sex Forum a Bust

Kudos to the College for holding an academic forum on the Sex Workers Art Show and corollary topics last Monday--- would that it had been standing room only, the lecture hall uncomfortably warm as the crowds pushed to get their views aired on the open mike.

Unfortunately, hardly anyone showed up, thus proving my earlier point that the students aren’t interested in real academic advancement here. It’s not about intellectual engagement for them. The crowd at the Show was about 200, fewer than in years past, but about 5 times the number at the forum.

So who are the students promoting this aberration, this perversion of scholarly purpose? Surely, with nearly $1700 in student fees given by the Student Assembly to fund it, there must be a plethora of student support.

Nope.

According to the Flat Hat, six student groups asked the SA for funding this year. Six small, obscure fringe groups who have a mission.
Who are they and what is that mission?

Lambda Alliance http://web.wm.edu/so/gsu/ It "serves the needs of the College's GLBTQ population".

For the uninitiated, “GLBTQ” means “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transvestite, Queer”. I remember when they were only “gay” and had bake sales on the steps of the Campus Center, and the Beaux Arts Ball was the big shin-dig of the year, neither of which exploited prostitutes for anything.

Meridian Coffee House http://web.wm.edu/so/meridian/

Located on Boundary Street in a tiny house near Hunt Hall, it is a Student Organization. They offer no description of their goals, mission or intent; they do use the f-word to describe one of the workers.

Tidewater Labor Support Committee http://web.wm.edu/so/tlsc/ supports College workers by being “a non-hierarchal group, meaning there are no designated officers or leaders.”

This reminds me of the anarchists who were protesting one of the presidential conventions years ago, and the radio news reporter remarked, “Gosh. They are so….disorganized!”

Voices for Planned Parenthood http://web.wm.edu/so/vfpp/“Voices for Planned Parenthood is a program to educate and mobilize students and youth in support of reproductive health and rights.”

Planned Parenthood in active support of prostitution? What’s next? Abortion services to minors without parental notification?

Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance http://web.wm.edu/so/fmla/ is the “College of William & Mary's leading feminist organization…Meetings for fall 2005 are held every week on Tuesdays…”

Not updating a website in four years indicates a certain lack of relativity to current students. Did I mention that these are fringe groups?
LIPS http://wmpeople.wm.edu/site/page/wmlips is a “female sexuality magazine designed to create a dialogue between the W&M community concerning the issue of female sexuality."

As an alumna friend commented, I’m pretty sure we were dialoguing about sex in the 1970s at the College, and we didn’t need a magazine to help us create one. And this one is not a Student Organization; it’s listed under “wmpeople”. Is the Flat Hat’s website in that category, too?

Tiny, fringe groups are pressing for events that have no bearing on higher education as an academic endeavor. Their goal is not advancing academic understanding or they would have made sure that the forum was packed.

Fringe groups have every right to exist, of course, at the College. No question there. Gather as ye may.

But one has to start asking what groups are being denied funding for their events because the SA chooses to continually fund the prostitution on parade show each year? There is never enough money for all the proposed events on the table; what is the selection process?

Selection is not censorship.

Denied groups have the same Free Speech right as these fringe groups. Do they threaten law suits if not funded? Do they scream “Free Speech violation!” and run roughshod over students and an administration quaking in fear of an ACLU-backed law suit?

This situation has all the earmarks of Fascism, where a small group of people use coercion to get what they want regardless of merit to the College’s mission.

The question is what do they want, really? Could it be this miniscule cadre wants to normalize what society has long deemed to be outside the norm? To make their reality the social norm? If so, that’s social engineering, not academic inquiry.

Liberal arts education teaches students how to think not what to think, hence the need for forums, debates, and research grants.

I admire President Reveley’s attempt to have an academic discussion this year. If we’re lucky, the Student Assembly will note its failure and use the smarts that got them into the College in the first place to see that funding SWAS again next year would be another black eye on the previously sterling academic reputation of the Alma Mater of a Nation.

Published March28, 2009 in The Virginia Gazette.