New Jersey: Princeton Students Who Say "No" and Mean "Entirely No"

The mission of Princeton University's Anscombe Society is to inject discussions of abstinence and chastity into what the group maintains is a campus life so drenched in sexuality that it pressures young people into promiscuity. The idea is simply to be heard in an atmosphere that not only condones sex among young people, members say, but also expects it. Their aim is not to pass moral judgment -- only to inform, they say.

"Even though morality does factor into it, we want to enrich the discussion of sexual issues and family," said sophomore Cassandra Debenedetto, who helped found the group last fall. "So we also present sociological data and medical research. We want to bring all of those issues in."

The heavily Catholic and politically conservative group is named after Elizabeth Anscombe, the Cambridge University Anglo-Catholic whose 1977 essay "Contraception and Chastity" is known for setting out a philosophical defense of the papacy's strictures on sexual behavior. Co-President Debenedetto said the Anscombe Society has about 80 members.

Group spokesperson David Schaengold maintains Anscombe's mission is not ideological. "We are trying to remove this discussion from a setting that would make people uncomfortable -- from a religious setting, for example -- and make it available to everyone."

Schaengold continued: "We don't believe that human beings should be used as instruments or objects. We think the proper relationship between humans should be one of respect and love, and we think promiscuity and random hook-ups are completely destructive" to that.

Reaction to the group on campus has ranged from "It's about time," say members, to inferences that they are chaste because they cannot get dates. Others believe the Princeton environment is too chaste already. At Ivy League schools such as Princeton, argued junior Robert A. Kennelley, spokesperson for the gay umbrella group Princeton Pride Alliance, students are "far more interested in their resumes ... than in interpersonal relationships."

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