Education

College Pays Students To Promote Abortion Rights

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The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is hiring students to promote abortion rights and assist with its mission of furthering “gender equity from an intersectional feminist perspective,” according to a Monday report.

The school’s women’s center is hiring students whom it will pay at least $9.25 an hour promote reproductive justice, LGBTQ issues, and writing blogs, reported Campus Reform. “Proficiency” in “social justice issues” is listed as one of the position’s qualifications.

Students chosen to fill the position may be “developing programs on topics affecting women and/or marginalized groups,” reads the position description. “Programming can be flexible to reflect individual interests and specific academic program needs (e.g. women in STEM, reproductive health and justice; body image; sexual violence and consent; LGBTQ issues; leadership development).”

They also may be tasked with conducting women’s center programs such as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Women’s History Month.

Blogging is listed as a potential responsibility of the women’s center employees. The most recent blog argues the existence of “makeup microaggressions,” which reportedly occur when the student author Samiksha Manjani receives a compliment about makeup.

“These microaggressions between women were essentially internalized sexism caused by heterosexist patriarchy,” Manjani wrote. “Under patriarchal norms, women’s value is dependent on their attractiveness to men.”

Students chosen for the women’s center position will complete a two-hour training in May and a full-day workshop in August.

“The sad thing about this kind of program is that women will not be told about the dangerous nature of abortion, the predatory practices of greedy abortion mega providers, and the fact that many people — including fellow students such as in Students for Life — are standing by to help women make a choice for life,” Students for Life of America spokeswoman Kristi Hamrick told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “No one should feel that they must choose between their child and their education.”

Hamrick also criticized the school’s decision to fund pro-choice advocates, but not pro-life ones.

Other taxpayer-funded universities have paid students or faculty members to attend social justice-related events. Marquette University paid $30 registration fees for faculty who wanted to attend an “overcoming Islamophobia” workshop at another college. Sam Houston State University offered a scholarship to students who took courses involving topics like white privilege and Black Lives Matter.

This post has been updated to include comment from Students For Life of America.

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