UC Davis calls for donations to student group that seeks to decriminalize 'sex work'
In 2022, the group helped convince the university not to host an appearance by Maggy Krell, an attorney who led a shutdown of a major website used for child sex trafficking.
The Sex Workers Advocacy Project's mission is 'to advocate on behalf of sex workers and their right to work without fear of legal punishment, violence, or social condemnation.'
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) is encouraging its donors to give financial support to a student organization that seeks to decriminalize “sex work.”
Give UC Davis, the university’s web page for donors to choose university-sponsored programs to contribute to, features a support fund for the Sex Workers Advocacy Project (SWAP), an “advocacy group on behalf of the rights of sex workers” that operates under the UC Davis School of Law.
“The Sex Workers Advocacy Project believes in the decriminalization of sex work,” the UC Davis web page states. “Our mission is to advocate on behalf of sex workers and their right to work without fear of legal punishment, violence, or social condemnation.”
The school also specifies the group is “developing a pamphlet for legal professionals and law students on how to be allies in this fight,” which will be released during the upcoming academic year.
In 2022, SWAP, as well as other student law groups, persuaded UC Davis to cancel a talk by Maggy Krell, a prosecutor who helped to shutdown Backpage, website that was used for sex trafficking children as young as 12 advertising sexual services. Krell is also a UC Davis Law School alumna.
“[Krell’s talk] is a prime example of the way politicians and lawyers discriminate against sex workers through confusing language, legal loopholes, and misinformation,” the student groups’ joint statement read. “We condemn Ms. Krell’s work and the irrevocable damage it had on the sex work community.”
To prevent the speaking event, SWAP also partnered with Lambda, a UC Davis student organization that “sponsors events that raise awareness of LGBT legal issues on campus and in the community.”
Additionally, the two groups successfully canceled the talk by working with the UC Davis chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a far-left organization that attempts to “bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, LGBTQ people, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends.”
[RELATED: Freshman editorial: legalize prostitution]
Though donors can choose which specific fund to support, the university also allows individuals to give to the UC Davis Annual Fund, which uses donations to support programs at the university’s discretion. According to UC David, the average yearly contribution to this fund is $200 per person.
The university also has two “gift-receiving arms”: the UC Davis Foundation and the Regents of the University of California. Both of these programs are qualified as charities, and donors are able to receive tax benefits for their gifts.
Large donors to UC Davis may also receive additional benefits from the university for their contributions, including special communications and meetings with the school’s chancellor, as well as access to behind-the-scenes tours and events.
Campus Reform has contacted all relevant entities for comment and will update this story accordingly.
