Students, profs hold art auction for Planned Parenthood

Kent State University students and faculty members recently hosted an art auction to raise money for Planned Parenthood, which faces the prospect of losing its federal funding.

Organized by the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Kent State student group with help from the School of Art, the “You, Me, Us, We” event took place June 29 at the Kent State School of Art’s Downtown Gallery, according to Kent Wired.

“We work with a lot of progressive groups on campus,” noted Madison Newingham, president of the Planned Parenthood Advocates group, “but this is the first thing we’ve [done] with the School of Art, and I absolutely love it.”

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Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and local artists all contributed pieces for the silent auction, which art professor Janice Lessman-Moss told Kent Wired was a response to the current political climate, adding that "one hundred percent of tonight's proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood."

Moss clarified in an interview with Campus Reform that Kent State had no formal role in the event, explaining that given the “politically charged world, and it didn’t feel appropriate to involve the University,” but did confirm that she personally chose to participate because of the health care reform legislation currently being debated in Congress.

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Asserting that the Republican proposals would be “devastating for everyone,” Moss said the goal of the art auction was to “raise awareness and give a sense of optimism in a time where we are feeling powerless.”

Newingham likewise affirmed that the auction “was something I felt motivated to do now in case 22 million loss [sic] their insurance along with 4 million in the work place who will have their insurance stripped,” but told Campus Reform that she does not consider it “an aggressively partisan victory.”

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