Boise State Student Starts Scholarship After Anti-Feminist Speech
Ally Orr, a student at Boise State University (senior) studying Marketing, was among the many of whom watched and listened to Professor Scott Yenor's National Conservatism Conference speech. And what she did in response has made waves in the Boise community by setting up a Go Fund Me to collect donations for a scholarship that would be awarded to BSU women in STEM, Med, or Law,
We were able to interview Ally to get the full back story of how this scholarship came to be, why it's important to know about it, and what its purpose moving forward will be.
The back story
Yenor's speech was full of anti-feminist rhetoric, including harmful statements that career-oriented women - who have put off marriage and family in favor of mid-level jobs - are "more medicated, meddlesome, and quarrelsome than women need to be."
He continued to say that there are “political and personal evils that flow from feminism" and that efforts should not be made to recruit women to fields like engineering, but rather quote “recruit and demand more of men who become engineers. Ditto for med school, and the law and every trade."
Keep in mind, Boise State University female students make up more than half (58%) of the student body. It's no wonder why Yenor's comments didn't sit well with BSU attendees or alumi.
If you haven't seen it yet, you can here.
And read more about the speech here.
Ally Orr and the Scholarship
We were able to interview Ally to get the full back story of how this scholarship came to be, why it's important to know about it, and what its purpose moving forward will be.
This speech struck Ally and her colleagues. Ally said she was "hurt, disappointed, and embarrassed" by the words of Professor Yenor as a female student at Boise State University whom he directly targeted.
What happened next
Ally said all these negative emotions made her want to do something about it, but knew "just writing an angry post wasn't going to make a difference." She wanted to do something about this since the University had failed to do anything more than just send an e-mail in response to the controversial speech.
Ally said she was reading through comments on the YouTube video when she came across a witty remark that read something along the lines of "someone needs to make a scholarship for these women titled 'For the medicated, meddlesome, and quarrelsome' in Yenor's name." And the idea was born.
She said she called her parents to get their advice on starting a Go Fund Me for a scholarship for women in STEM, Med, and Law at Boise State University. They cautioned her of some hate she may receive, but they all together decided to go for it.
After spending hours gathering faculty emails and contact info, Ally drafted an e-mail and link to a Go Fund Me page for a scholarship to help support these women at Boise State who had been targeted by Professor Yenor. After collecting about 80% off the staff's e-mails, she hit send.
Ally was so kind to provide us with the initial e-mail as you can see below!
Ally told us "I fell asleep afraid I would get kicked out of school or something worse, but instead donations started rolling in around 9 am the next morning."
Within 24 hours, Ally's Go Fund Me for this scholarship hit over $10,000.
As of 12/14/2021, it's hit over $37,000 in scholarship money.
An enormous influx of support from men and women in all fields and all walks of life started flooding in. Here is just a taste of what donations were made and comments were left.
Donors for Boise State Scholarship Comments
Ally and her friends turned this hate and pain into a positive outcome by creating this scholarship that will actually make a difference in the lives of women who are pursuing higher education, especially in STEM, Law, or Med.
If you would like to donate to the Go Fund Me page and help support women in higher education, you can do so HERE!
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