Background: In my hometown of St. Louis a controversy is afoot. Bristol Palin was invited to be the keynote speaker February 7th at Washington University during the school’s Sexual Responsibility Week. As part of a four-person panel, Palin is slated to discuss abstinence.
Bristol Palin has been selected as keynote speaker for this year’s Sexual Responsibility Week at Washington University.
Student Union Treasury on Tuesday approved a $20,000 appeal by the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) to sponsor a four-person panel featuring Palin. The appeal was initially set at $25,000 and renegotiated.
The $20,000 comes from the Student Activity Fee collected from each undergraduate student at the beginning of the year. The Student Activity Fee is fixed at one percent of tuition.
While Palin has not formally agreed to the appearance yet, she is expected to do so shortly.
I wasn’t even fully aware of what was happening until a number of Wash U student conservatives reached out, upset at their treatment when they would defend the student union’s decision. Protests are organized and two Facebook pages have been created. Above all else the protest against Bristol Palin stems from no other reason than her last name is Palin.
That’s it.
No one knows what sort of speaking fee Palin is collecting yet some left-leaning students immediately assumed it was eleventy frillion dollars and are attempting to use that as justification for their protest – except when you read the comments on Facebook or in the student paper it’s always followed up with some politically-charged remark about her being Palin’s daughter. Also, some in the community don’t believe in redemption or grace, thus think that once you err you are forever doomed thus, no way can Palin be an authority on abstinence, even though she has more experience than most young adults her age at the result of not practicing abstinence.
A young woman is attempting to say something positive, something about which I think we can all agree. From Huffington Post:
While the politically-charged nature of the selection has caused some minor turbulence on campus, one of the organizers behind the event explained to StudLife that her presence would help round out an annual happening that is often criticized for being one-sided.
“We thought a big name like Bristol’s would help to start a dialogue,” Student Health Advisory Committee President Scott Elman told StudLife. “We also wanted to target abstinence because SHAC and Sex Week have been criticized for being too liberal and too one-dimensional, and that the abstinence conversation hasn’t been brought up.”
Sadly because her mother is who she is, some are seeking to silence Bristol Palin’s voice. It’s bullying, plain and simple, all while the “It Gets Better” anti-bullying campaign is all the rage in Hollywood.
Apparently that doesn’t apply to conservative youth. And especially if you mom’s name is Sarah Palin.
Enter Kate Walsh. Walsh is an actress on one of the doc dramas and decided it appropriate to go after a young mother because her mother is Sarah Palin.
Tacky much? Are ratings that bad? Perfume sales that low that Walsh feels the need to try to rally opposition against a teen mom? What will Katie Couric say in her next report about rhetoric? Threats against the Palins are at an all-time high for a reason, maybe because people continue to engage in these sorts of bully tactics? And the MSM is silent.
Congratulations, humanity.
*UPDATE: Walsh responds.
Er, no, honestly, I don’t. I had to Google her. I may be a rare type of television viewer, but I don’t have a lot of free time to watch TV. (But when I do? “STEVEN SEGAL: LAWMAN.”)
Seems an … odd response.
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