PENNSYLVANIA, Mar 5, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Pennsylvania lawmaker Rep. John Lawless is calling for a halt on funding for Penn State University following a sex education fair held on the university campus. It featured such exhibits as anatomically correct gingerbread men and women, and some critics say it crossed the line from educational to lurid. Mr. Lawless videotaped some of the fair and showed it to university president, Graham Spanier. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that one of his colleagues, Rep. Samuel Rohrer told the president: “I hope you’re embarrassed, because I’m angered and embarrassed. This incident was reprehensible … debauched ….wrong.” A $362 million budget request is at stake.
Mr. Lawless is facing criticism from many sides. A public letter signed by five law, journalism and education professors, asserted that “as a state-related university, Penn State is a part of government for purposes of the First Amendment,” adding that “all the prohibitions government face when attempting to restrict speech apply to Penn State. Rep. Lawless, in essence, is asking Penn State to violate settled principles of law and is basing his decision on the University’s funding to do so. We find that to be a rather odd position for a lawmaker.”“Womyn’s Concerns, the group that organized the fair, has drawn Lawless’ ire and raised eyebrows on campus before,” reported ABC news. “In November they were part of a feminist march in which there were banners bearing a word for women’s genitalia that is generally considered obscene.” He has also criticised the school in the past over works of art displayed in galleries and a production of The Vagina Monologues.
For more, see https://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/02/28/front_page/SSEX28.htm https://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20010228/ts/penn_st_sex_faire_angers_lawmaker_1.html