Royal Farms Affected by Student Protest
TOWSON, Md. -- Protests against Royal Farms convenience stores by a student group have led to the removal of some adult magazines, according to a news report on the Northeast (Towson, Md.) Booster Web site. A group of students from Notre Dame Preparatory School waved signs outside Royal Farms' district office in Hampden, Md., recently.
"We're here because we have a message we want people to hear and think about," said 18-year-old Alex Wilson, one of more than half a dozen students.
That message is a straightforward one: Royal Farms store management should move hard-core pornographic magazines -- publications with titles such as "Barely Legal" -- behind the counter, where small children cannot see them.
"It's just plain wrong to have those kinds of magazines -- triple X magazines -- out in the open where little kids can see them," said Lisa Kurian, 17. "They should put those magazines behind the counter where children and other people who don't want to see them don't have to."
It's a message strongly supported by Lucy Strausbaugh, the Notre Dame Prep religion teacher who brought the issue to her students' attention as part of a social issues class discussion on sexism and its manifestations in modern society, the Northeast Booster reported.
"We're out here to let Royal Farms' management know that we don't want this kind of material in our faces or in our children's faces," Strausbaugh said, according to the news report. "This is not personal. We are just trying to protect the community."
Strausbaugh and her students took their message to Royal Farms' CEO, John Kemp, whose office is in Hampden.
Kemp told the newspaper, "As I told the teacher, these decisions and policies are handled by our marketing department, and I contacted them about the concerns that have been brought up. As a result, there has been action on our company's part to tone down the selection of magazines."
In fact, the manager at the Providence store said he "stopped carrying" a few titles as a result of the protests.
"We're here because we have a message we want people to hear and think about," said 18-year-old Alex Wilson, one of more than half a dozen students.
That message is a straightforward one: Royal Farms store management should move hard-core pornographic magazines -- publications with titles such as "Barely Legal" -- behind the counter, where small children cannot see them.
"It's just plain wrong to have those kinds of magazines -- triple X magazines -- out in the open where little kids can see them," said Lisa Kurian, 17. "They should put those magazines behind the counter where children and other people who don't want to see them don't have to."
It's a message strongly supported by Lucy Strausbaugh, the Notre Dame Prep religion teacher who brought the issue to her students' attention as part of a social issues class discussion on sexism and its manifestations in modern society, the Northeast Booster reported.
"We're out here to let Royal Farms' management know that we don't want this kind of material in our faces or in our children's faces," Strausbaugh said, according to the news report. "This is not personal. We are just trying to protect the community."
Strausbaugh and her students took their message to Royal Farms' CEO, John Kemp, whose office is in Hampden.
Kemp told the newspaper, "As I told the teacher, these decisions and policies are handled by our marketing department, and I contacted them about the concerns that have been brought up. As a result, there has been action on our company's part to tone down the selection of magazines."
In fact, the manager at the Providence store said he "stopped carrying" a few titles as a result of the protests.