Princeton event to highlight healthy marriages as foundation of society

Oct 27, 2016 / 10:21 am

As the contentious 2016 campaign season draws to a close, hundreds of university students are coming together to focus on strong marriages and sexual integrity as the bedrock of a health society.

In the coming days, nearly 300 college-age students and alumni from 54 universities around the country will gather on the Princeton University campus for a conference that hopes to "re-energize a grassroots movement to change campus culture."

The goal of the gathering is to equip attendees with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively witness to an authentic understanding of love in their college communities, explained Caitlin La Ruffa, executive director of the Love and Fidelity Network, which is hosting the conference.

"It's not news to say that our culture has lost sight of the true meaning and purpose of sexuality and marriage," La Ruffa said, "but the upcoming presidential election presents that fact in stark relief."

The ninth annual Sexuality, Integrity, and the University conference will take place Oct. 28-29 at Princeton University.

It will include talks on balancing marriage and career, equality between the sexes and sexual complementarity, campus hookup culture, the sexual assault crisis, and the realities of gender reassignment therapy.

Speakers will include Dr. Anthony Esolen of Providence College, author Erika Bachiochi, Dr. Donna Freitas, and Walt Heyer and Dr. Ana Samuel of the Witherspoon Institute.

Also speaking will be Dr. Robert P. George of Princeton University, Dr. Joseph Price of Brigham Young University, Dr. David Upham of the University of Dallas, and the Ecce! Films team, creators of the Humanum film series.

"The students who will join us see first-hand the destruction wrought by the sexual revolution on their campuses and in society at large," La Ruffa said. "Their grassroots effort to change the hearts and minds of their peers is exactly what our ailing culture needs. The upcoming conference is designed to empower them in those efforts."

Those who cannot attend in person can watch a livestream of events online.

The Love and Fidelity Network was established in 2007 in Princeton, New Jersey, in response to what founders saw as an insufficient treatment of marriage, family and sexuality in higher education.

The network's goal is to offer college students the knowledge, resources and support they need to defend the dignity of marriage, the family, and human sexuality on their college campuses and in the public square. Participants receive leadership coaching and funding for campus initiatives.

"The conference always inspires these courageous young men and women to take action, reinvigorating them to bring the message of love and fidelity back to their campuses in a very real way," La Ruffa said. "We can't wait to see what they'll do after they get back to campus."