A pro-abortion feminist professor at Towson University has a unique way to make students in her class feel uncomfortable; she asks them to tell her what turns them on (and off) and then asks them to draw themselves naked. According to several students at Towson University, Professor Lillian Carter does this in her “Sexuality in Diverse Societies” classes. In fact, within the first few weeks, the students were required during one of the classes to present a list of what turns them on and off this as their ‘entrance ticket’ to her class.
Additionally, Carter prevented a pro-life student from writing about her pro-life beliefs, though students are encouraged to write about why Planned Parenthood should not be defunded. Two syllabi for the class even say, “You may make your own topic” with the professor’s approval. And that’s exactly what two students did. According to one student who spoke to Students for Life of America, they were told that as long as no one else had chosen their same topic, they could write about it. So, the student and her class partner asked to write about “pro-life positives” but were denied without reasoning and told to write about their second option, which was “Obsessive love is dangerous.”
Ironically, the Spring 2019 syllabus states, “All learners have a right to learn in a supportive environment. In our discussions, it is expected that all ideas will be treated with respect and that our discussion about sensitive issues will be confidential.” So the professor doesn’t even follow her own standards.
According to the student, the professor routinely presented biased information, including, saying, “abortion is the back-up contraceptive” and “if you’re really pro-life, wouldn’t you want people to have access to good contraception,” and encouraging students to tell their friends to go to Planned Parenthood and said that “Sometimes we have to overcome those negative thoughts planted from our church.” As the student noted, there is not a lot of ‘diverse’ discussion on sexuality in the class, despite the title.
The student also told us, “During this chapter [on abortion], she very briefly skimmed over the procedures giving inaccurate facts such as the RU-486 pill just makes women get their period and ends the pregnancy. She then went in to explain suction abortion as “just vacuuming the lining of the uterus.” Among this there were multiple questions on the test about abortion one of which downplayed the risks of abortion.
Dr. Carter has not responded to an e-mail from one of the students involved asking why her project proposal was denied. Towson University did not respond to an e-mail inquiry from Students for Life of America initially. In an e-mail shortly after the blog went up and out on social media, the school ignored the direct questions asked, and asked the blog to be updated to note that no students had complained about the incident. The questions asked specifically referenced Dr. Carter and described what happened, but the school did not address these questions.
“This abuse of power by Professor Carter illustrates why President Trump’s free speech protections on college and university campuses is vital,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America. “The views of pro-life students deserve a public forum especially in a class designed to talk about sex and its consequences. Like every other American, Pro-life students should be free to voice their support for protecting the human rights of preborn children without leftist college professors using their power to discriminate against them.”
If you wish to share this blog in its entirety please e-mail Matt Lamb at mlamb@studentsforlife.org for permission.
This blog has been updated to reflect comments from the school.
