University Uninvites Bristol Palin Over Too Much ‘Controversy’

Washington University in St. Louis, MO has uninvited Bristol Palin to speak at its annual "Sex Week" because it deemed her appearance had become, and would be, too controversial. But that's not the decision the university came to when it hosted former green jobs czar Van Jones in November.

Palin was originally invited to talk about the importance of abstinence and, as the student newspaper Student Life says, counteract the liberal bent of the annual event. She was supposed to appear on a panel alongside, among others, a representative from Planned Parenthood.

But some at the university -- specifically students -- went berserk because Palin is considered too controversial, saying that her presence would overshadow the event itself. They also took umbrage with the approximately $20,000 speaking fee Palin was set to be paid -- money that would have been drawn from a student fee fund:

In an op-ed in the Student Life on Friday, one student laid out his reason for opposing Palin:

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not bring a unique and engaging perspective to this issue. There are presumably thousands of individuals just in the St. Louis area that went through teenage pregnancies that have the exact same perspective that Ms. Palin does. ... Moreover, Ms. Palin is simply not qualified to speak about the challenges facing individuals who wish to remain abstinent in college. ... Furthermore, Ms. Palin is far too polarizing for this particular situation. First, as I’ve already mentioned, the choice of Ms. Palin has already shifted the discourse surrounding this panel from issues regarding abstinence to issues regarding Ms. Palin.

The student also objected to the money that would have been spent on the appearance.

When the decision was made public last night, students responded with glee.

“I am glad that in the aftermath of [Wednesday] night’s Senate meeting, SHAC was able to take a moment to listen to what all the students had to say, and to think about it critically,” Junior Ryan McCombe told the Student Life.

“We are happy that SHAC, and Bristol Palin herself, responded to the student body’s concerns,” added sophomore Sherveen Mashayekhi, president of the College Democrats. “It’s a sad state of politics at Wash. U. when Bristol Palin is what required us to get politically active.”

But Scott Elman, president of Washington University's Student Health Advisory Committee, which had extended the invitation to Palin, thinks students may have overreacted. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was very disappointed that students weren't more open to having Palin speak.

“The decision was 100 percent mutual,” Elman told Student Life about the decision to uninvite Palin. “SHAC stands by our decision to extend an invitation to Bristol, but we understand that a lot of our original intentions for discussing abstinence on campus, as well as sexual responsibility, were going to be lost.”

Palin's ousting is confusing considering the University had no problem hosting controversial leftist, and former green jobs czar Van Jones, in November. The school allocated $5,000 for that appearance, and the student paper didn't report any controversy during his speech.

Readers might remember, however, that Jones equated Fox News with Satan while speaking at that event:

Additionally, the blogger who took the above video was initially kicked out of the event.

No controversy there.

(H/T: Gateway Pundit)