Tuesday March 1, 2005
How Low has Academia Sunk? Venerable Oxford Union Proud to Feature Triple-X Porn Star Ron Jeremy
OXFORD, March 1, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Oxford Union justifiably bills itself as the most famous debating society in the world. Its past is luminous with the names of many of the greatest thinkers, leaders, reformers, and political giants of the last 180 years. That does not mean, however, that its reputation could be considered ‘respectable.’ In our time, some observers are saying that the invitation of one of Europe’s most prolific pornographic movie stars, Ron Jeremy, shows the Union – and its reputation – has outlived its purpose. Jeremy is the star of over 1700 hard-core porn films and claims to have had relations with 4000 women.
The Union’s librarian, Vladimir Bermant, commented, "Ron is the biggest and apparently the best in the business, so I'm sure he'll have some fascinating stories to tell."
The Union’s pacifist, leftist leanings infuriated Prime Minister Winston Churchill when the Union passed a motion in 1933 that “This House will under no circumstances fight for King and Country.” The Union, which is not an official body of Oxford University, was nevertheless considered so influential that some historians maintain the motion encouraged Hitler’s decision to invade Europe.
Founded in 1823, in an age when academia could more easily be taken seriously, former presidents of the Union have included Hilaire Belloc, Benazir Bhutto, William Gladstone and four other British Prime Ministers. Its members compete internationally against other top debating societies, and Oxford regularly fields one of the most successful teams at the World Universities Debating Championships. Union speakers have made up a list of the most famous and influential names of the twentieth century and include Mother Teresa, Ronald Reagan, Churchill, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy and the Dalai Lama.
In recent decades, however, the mandate to debate important issues of the day has given way to subject matter more suitable to Fleet Street’s sleaziest tabloids and puerile undergraduate pranks. The Union’s recent list of speakers have included another porn ‘artist’ Jenna Jameson, pop singer Jon Bon Jovi, OJ Simpson, discredited magician Uri Gellar, TV muckraker Jerry Springer, model Jerry Hall, and Kermit the Frog.
hw
Latest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.

- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats

- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case

- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6

- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation

- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative

- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum

- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats

- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"

- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors

- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms

- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment

- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues

- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters

- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"

- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts

- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser

- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)

- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal

- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups

Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS:
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page
Last 10 Days
Archives
Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.







Back to Top