by chiggerbit » Wed May 24, 2006 11:32 am
Now that the Catholic church has four conservative justices on the Supreme Court, I've been waiting for the church to start not only its war on abortion, but also its war on contraceptives. I think the first shots have been fired. A commencement speaker at St. Thomas, a college in Minnesota disses users of the pill as "selfish". Head for your foxhole! Or the pharmacy for stockpiles, as the case may be. <br><br>(See link for entire article, emphasis mine.)<br><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/05/24/stthomas">www.insidehighered.com/ne...4/stthomas</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>A Commencement Turns Ugly<br><br>When people cry at graduation, it’s supposed to be the happy kind of tears.<br><br>That wasn’t the case Saturday at the University of St. Thomas, when the <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>student speaker at the Saint Paul, Minn., institution’s graduation ceremony used his address to denounce as “selfish” those women who use the birth control pill.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> St. Thomas has been divided this semester by a debate over whether the Roman Catholic institution was correct to ban unmarried employees traveling together with students from sharing a room, so issues of sexual morality have been front and center at the institution. The student speaker also denounced as selfish those unmarried couples covered by the policy who had wanted to share a room with a partner.<br><br>Students and family members were shocked by the speech — and some left their own graduation in tears. Others booed or shouted. Still others are angry that the university administrator who followed the student speaker appeared to many to endorse his views. The university denies that, and the St. Thomas president and the student speaker have apologized. While St. Thomas officials said that they hope the apologies will put the matter to rest, many students and faculty members doubt that can happen.<br><br>A portion of the controversial speech has been posted online at YouTube (be forewarned that several loud expletives from audience members are also audible). The speaker is Ben Kessler, who was elected by students and faculty members as “Tommie of the Year,” earning the right to address his fellow graduates. Kessler was a 4.0 student and a star on the football team. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>He is moving to Rome to study for the priesthood.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>In his speech, Kessler asked about the couples who traveled with St. Thomas students and who set off the debate over the travel policy. The issue gained the attention of St. Thomas administrators when a choir director who is lesbian wanted to take her partner and their son on a class trip to France, as married couples on university travel had done in the past. Not only was that trip barred, but the university started barring those traveling with students from sharing rooms with their partners if they were not married — whether the relationships were straight or gay. Kessler said that those wanting to share rooms were “selfish,” and that as a result of their actions “students become confused” and “faculty and staff become scandalized,” all for “the happiness of one or two people.”<br><br>He then went on to call using birth control selfish, and specifically cited only one form of birth control: the pill.<br><br>As Kessler spoke, some students and faculty members started to leave. Others shouted their anger and called for him to stop. In other parts of his address, Kessler spoke of his own selfishness, praised the accomplishments of his classmates, and encouraged them to lead lives that involve giving back to their communities.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>At the end of Kessler’s speech, Thomas Rochon, the university’s chief academic officer, spoke and he noted Kessler’s “courage” in expressing his views</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->......<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
