LSU law students, undergraduates and other teenage students on a field trip heard 2003 Miss America, Erika Harold, speak about her limitations on free speech for the sake of political correctness.
A room of about 70 people, plus an audience watching monitors outside, listened to Harold share her experiences. The event was sponsored by the LSU Law School Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy.
Third-year law student and Federalist president Jean-Paul Coussan said the Federalist society is a group that fosters debate within public policy. Coussan said Harold was a good fit to speak because Harold’s platform, teen abstinence, is a public policy issue that fosters debate.
“What has an effect is debate,” Coussan said. “When you articulate ideas, you move toward a means to that end.”
Harold said she initially was told by Miss America officials not to talk about abstinence because the officials, as an organization, did not agree with her stances, so she also is speaking about political correctness.
“I wanted what I did with the crown to be meaningful, I wanted to make an impact in some way,” Harold said.
Only after media pressure did officials allow Harold to speak on her full platform, which is abstinence and bullying. Harold said she has spoken to 6,000 teenagers so far and she wants to reach 15,000 to 20,000 people by the end of the week.
Harold said she is working with Gov. Mike Foster’s program, which entails visiting five Louisiana cities to speak at youth rallies.
She spoke about the biggest misconception associated with abstinence – that abstinence is tied to religion. The public schools, which are Harold’s most common venue, were hesitant to let her talk about abstinence because of this reason.
Harold is encouraged by what she has done so far, because she is confident youth respond when they are educated about abstinence. Harold says that teen pregnancy and sexual activity saw its first decline after a nation-wide increase in education in the 90s.
Third-year law student Angel Brumfield said she attended because she likes supporting positive activities and events for teens.
“It’s always good to support positive activities so we can continue to have future positive activities,” Brumfield said.
“I thought she did an excellent job explaining her platform without shunning others,” Brumfield said. “People have a tendency to say what they believe and not listen to others, and she didn’t do that.”
Harold said she came to LSU because one of the LSU Law professors invited her while she was at a youth rally.
“I feel very good about the response, and honored that many people take the time to hear me speak,” Harold said. “I think it is a larger problem that sometimes controversial talk is stifled.”