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Missouri's Washington University is canceling a freshman orientation activity hosted by Target, stating that the company's participation may make LGBT students feel unwelcome.
The St. Louis school is gearing up to open the academic year next week with new classes and a 40-day orientation program for incoming freshmen. According to local TV station KDSK, one traditional orientation event, however, will be conspicuously absent this year: The Target After Hours Shopping Event.
The activity, which welcomes students into the stores after closing for shopping and entertainment, was canceled in the wake of the corporation's $150,000 donation to a Minnesota political action committee supporting a candidate opposed to equal marriage rights.
Associate vice chancellor of student affairs Jill Carnaghi explained the decision to cut the event.
"It's the right decision for our campus community when we're welcoming the class of 2014 with all the excitement and enthusiasm possible, and we really pride ourselves on saying every member of our community matters," she told the station, adding, "We not only have to talk the talk but we have to walk the walk."
In 2008 the institution awarded an honorary degree to Phyllis Schlafly, a political activist and constitutional attorney known for her antigay views and opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment of the 1970s. The decision incited protests from students and faculty both, including a letter written by 14 law professors claiming that the degree wrongly commended her for "anti-intellectualism in pursuit of a political agenda."
Officials responded in astatement, explaining, "Alumna Phyllis Schlafly's articulation of her perspectives has been a significant part of American life during the last half of the 20th century and now the 21st century. ... [A university may] choose to recognize those who provide leadership and articulation — both pro and con — on vital issues."
Schlafly notably referred to the protesters as "a bunch of losers."
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