Bright College Days, Oh Carefree Days that Fly

To thee we sing, with our glasses raised on high . . . UW-LaCrosse apologizes for hosting porn star

The University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse publicly apologized to staff and students after hosting porn star Nina Hartley.

UW-LaCrosse Chancellor Joe Gow apologized to the school after backlash for hosting a presentation by Hartley as part of the university’s Free Speech Week and agreed to refund the school personally for the $5,000 it expended to host the porn star, according to the LaCrosse Tribune.

“It’s OK to like porn,” Hartley told students and staff during her Nov. 1 speech. “It’s OK to not like porn. And it’s OK to be confused by porn. You are where you are, and you are who you are.”

OK, that was deep. /sarc But what do you expect for $5,000? It take's at least $100,000 to get Hillary, and she's far less interesting

Campus Reform previously reported that the speaking event did not appear on any of the university’s websites or event pages and was not made available to the public through the press. Displays around campus were the only form of advertisement for the event.

There are conflicting accounts regarding from where the speaking fees were derived. The money came out of the university’s auxiliary fund, according to the LaCrosse Tribune. But the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel stated that the funds came out of the University of Wisconsin Chancellor’s office fund.

 That's mighty big of him.

“I’m writing to let you know how sorry I am for the sensationalistic media attention UW-L has received as a result of a speaker I brought to campus,” Gow said in his email to UW-LaCrosse students and staff, obtained by the La Crosse Tribune. “Regrettably, in many media headlines and accounts, the speaker’s profession completely overwhelmed her message.” Gow also claimed that he was "naive" about the potential for that response and has since learned from his actions.

The chancellor has offered and agreed to personally compensate the university for Hartley’s $5,000 speaking fee. Gow is also inviting a speaker from Fight the New Drug, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching about the “harmful” impact of porn through “science, facts, and personal accounts.”

I have no problem with this. First of all, I don't pay taxes in Wisconsin. Second, I think it's nice that the students are helping out a little old lady like that. Third, they did have another speaker to represent the other side of the argument.  Maybe the chancellor will kick in next year, too.

Nina Hartley:

Nina Hartley (born Marie Louise Hartman; March 11, 1959) is an American pornographic actress, (NSFW link) pornographic film director, sex educator, sex-positive feminist, and author.

Marie Louise Hartman was born in Berkeley, California, to a Lutheran father and a Jewish mother (both deceased) whose family was from Alabama. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the youngest of four children, with an older sister and two older brothers. Her parents were communists who converted to Buddhism when she was young. Her father was blacklisted in 1957. After graduating from Berkeley High School in 1977, she attended San Francisco State University's undergraduate nursing school and graduated magna cum laude in 1985. She was a registered nurse per the California Board of Registered Nursing until her license expired in 1986.

Berkeley? That explains it.

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