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The Week in College Sex

March 4, 2011, 2:51 pm

Clark Kerr, the legendary president of the University of California, is credited with having joked that the purposes of the university were “to provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.”

We’re not sure about the last two, but it has been a memorable week for news about the first. To recap (for anyone who has been trapped under a snow drift):

  • On Monday, a columnist in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian asserted that a young woman who “wears a promiscuous outfit to a party, then proceeds to drink and flirt excessively” should not blame men if she is raped.  The Collegian‘s editors subsequently apologized and announced that it would keep the column available on its site “as a reminder of what happens when we do not meet the journalistic standards that we strive to meet every day.”
  • On Tuesday, The Daily Northwestern reported that a couple had used a motorized sex toy in front of more than 100 students (and one student’s mom, another report said) during an after-class demonstration in Northwestern University’s “Human Sexuality” course. The university initially took a defensive stance, but by Thursday Northwestern’s president had called for an investigation of the incident.
  • On Wednesday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that “premarital sex” — an honor-code violation — was the reason that Brigham Young University had suspended its star center, Brandon Davies, from the men’s basketball team for the remainder of the season. (Also prohibited by BYU’s honor code: alcohol use and beards.)
  • On Thursday, the Times Union reported that the Skidmore College Center for Sex and Gender Relations had hung copies of a how-to guide for better masturbation in bathroom stalls in dorms, classroom buildings, and the college library.

Discuss.

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  • http://okstate.academia.edu/JohnFoubert John D. Foubert, Ph.D.

    A classroom is the workplace of students, and of faculty. When you have a faculty member at Northwestern University who says something to the effect that he’s going to do something a bit graphic and has a woman in a classroom take off all of her clothing and then have another man penetrate her with a “f*ck saw” until she has an orgasm in front of 100 students” this is more than just a little bit disturbing. Depending upon whether some students in that class felt compelled to stay after class to watch this event (many were apparently surprised at how graphic it was) it could easily be called a violation of Title IX. Would someone who came in the room not knowing what was going on (perhaps for the next class) be surprised, offended, etc.? Would a reasonable person expect that when they walk into a room in their office building (a classroom) that they would see a naked woman having an orgasm with such a device? This professor needs to be put on immediate leave pending the results of the investigation, and if even half of what is being reported is true, he should be fired. I say that as a dues paying member of the AAUP (not speaking for them, but to note that I ardently defend the academic freedom of ideas yet find the alleged action of this professor abhorrent).

  • 11223435

    Is it too late for Davies to transfer to Northwestern? If it’s too late for a scholarship transfer, I know a class where he could….

  • haohtt

    Bravo to BYU for demonstrating by its actions that its honor code actually means something and for refusing to bow to pressure that everything must take a back seat to winning basketball games. Whether one agrees with BYU’s standards or not, all of its students agree to abide by them or face the consequences. After all, there are over 3,000 other institutions (including Northwestern) to choose from for those who have different standards.

  • akprof

    This is not what happened according to the article in yesterday’s Chronicle – I am hoping the Chroinicles report was correct!

  • akprof

    Can someone explain to me wht beards are not permitted under BYU’s honor code? I get the alcohol use and premarital sex – though with college aged kids, even those seem mostly hopeful as honor code prohibitions. But beards?

  • eajmtp2

    According to the Northwestern Professor John Michael Bailey ‘On the afternoon of February 21st Ken MB and colleagues arrived while I was finishing my lecture, on sexual arousal. I was talking about the female g-spot and the phenomenon of female ejaculation, both of which are scientifically controversial. I finished the lecture and invited the guests onstage. On the way, Ken asked me whether it would be ok if one of the women with him demonstrated female ejaculation using equipment they had brought with them. I hesitated only briefly before saying “yes.”‘

    It hardly sounds like a well-planned or thought out educational activity. So, unsurprisingly, The University has announced an ethics probe based on a violation of American Psychological Association standards. There is also the unaddressed question of the ethics of using use of human subjects in demonstrations in the classroom without prior review. “Ken MB”, the sex tour guide, who provided the services of the individuals involved in the act, stated that he did so in anticipation of being paid his usual fee of “$300 to $500″ by the University – whether this constitutes hiring a prostitute is open to interpretation. The question of whether live sex shows are permitted in the community is another legal consideration.

    Yet despite all this, the student newspaper editorialized, “University must not limit Bailey’s academic freedom.” It is a rather strange understanding of academic freedom to assume that it covers criminal behavior and the degrading of human subjects, whether they are willing participants or not. These types of actions represent the real threat to academic freedom that is equivalent to the dilution of the meaning of the First Amendment that comes from people asserting that they have a right to say anything, anywhere without any consequences for their actions. For Northwestern students, this should be a “teachable moment”, the question is whether anyone takes the opportunity to do so or not.

  • eajmtp2

    According to a Chicago Tribune article linked to this report “The woman undressed and got on stage with her male partner, who used a device that looks like a machine-powered saw with a phallic object instead of a blade. Melvoin-Berg said the couple are exhibitionists who enjoy having people watch them have sex, and they were not paid for the demonstration.”

    It would help readers if the Chronicle highlighted its links – after all they are the citations on which the article is based.

  • drnels

    I’m not the person who can answer this, but I did have a friend in college who grew a bear because it was the first time he was home and could do. Just like there are some sects of Jewish men who do not shave, I just think it’s part of Mormon philosophy not to have facial hair.

  • http://okstate.academia.edu/JohnFoubert John D. Foubert, Ph.D.

    There are numerous reports about this incident in Chicago newspapers and from statements from the University. I’m not sure what you dispute about how I describe the story, but what I note above is from published reports. I wasn’t there though, and some of these stories could be exaggerated or misrepresented. That is why I made it clear to note that the prof deserves due process, and said “IF” even HALF of what was REPORTED is true. That is what the investigation should be for. Of course if it is all made up — I hope it was so this thing didn’t happen to begin with — we can just talk about the hoax.

  • okieinexile

    Fifteen years ago I was a visiting assistant professor at BYU and shaved a beard in order to do it. It is a grooming standard that they have set and they stand by it, and, as I understood it at the time, it had nothing to do with morality or piety. As a non-Mormon visitor I was treated with courtesy and respect.

  • goxewu

    “Ken asked me whether it would be ok if one of the women with him demonstrated female ejaculation using equipment they had brought with them.”

    This sentence is like one of those in depressingly frequent news stories that say, oh, “Then the man pulled a gun and shot three other party-goers.” One thinks: Does he always go to parties carrying a gun just in case someone questions his honor?

    Here, one thinks: Do these people always carry around sex toys just in case one of them feels the need for a quick orgasm?

  • rubayet007

    Excellent university where students study with enjoy.

  • raza_khan

    In all of my classes, whether is 100 level or 200 level, I have all of my students write down their year status but also how many colleges courses they have taken at our college where they have earned a grade of A or B. I do not ask them the specifics of the course or the grades but just a number. The reason being:
    1. Of course, the first-timers need help
    2. We have students who may be taking 200 level classes and could be new to the college such as transfer students as well.
    3. As sad as it is, I know… you do not have to tell me, I have them write down the meaning of grades such as “A”, “B”. “C”, “D” and “F” and give me a rough % of students who should be getting those grades in my chemistry courses.
    4. Number of hours they will dedicate to the four credit course outside the class.

    Needless to say, I am always shocked as to what the students believe and what the reality is!!!

    Raza
    _________________________
    Raza Khan, Ph.D.

  • llevitt1

    Lack of comments shows how little interest there is in the larger higher education community in this regrettable attitude.

  • rsk04911

    It’s not an ethnography exactly, but close:  Alma Mater by F.P. Kluge covers what happens during a year at a small liberal arts college, in fact, Kenyon College.

  • theblondeassassin

    There are certainly quite a few in management studies, although that might beg the question of whether management falls into your definition of humanities and social studies.

    See for example Di Domenico and Phillips’ recent study of dining rituals in Oxbridge colleges (Journal of Management Inquiry).

  • jffoster

    As a historical note or clarification, _ethnography_ came out of Anthropology. Not the “Humanities”, and in general is not used in the Humanities unless one use the term quite loosely. And most of the stuff in Education which they call “ethnography” isn’t anything that an anthropologist would recognize as a real ethnography.  Nor is “cultural studies”.

    And, note to _theboondeassassin_,    Mr. Thrift use the term “Social Sciences”, I believe. Not “social studies”.  They aren’t the same thing.

  • jffoster

    Oops, I erred a little in my note to blondeassassin, and the editor device on this software doesn’t appear to work any more.   Thrift did at one point use the term “social studies” although in a limited and qualified context and probably not intended as a synonmy for ‘social science(s)’. 

  • r_the_witt

    Two recent academic ethnographies of note are, from the University of Rochester libraries, a study of student research and study habits titled Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester, and Rebecca Nathan’s My Freshman Year.

  • harveysarles

    A “trained ethnographer,” I have been doing “field work) at my University of Minnesota (Plus a few others) for many years – and haven’t found much interest or reception: Several observations of why so little interest: the modern University (mine – a Land Grant – some 140+ disciplines – so difficult to observe, visit, interview – so difficult to understand the different disciplines essentially as “cultures.”

    Perhaps it’s “time” tell my “story/ethnography” – I have visited (the only person I’ve ever met) all the disciplines at my University (some don’t exist anymore – others are “new” – most universities these days are “watching” particular others to help define themselves – others are in “decline” ( my University – just “retired”, actually) – so lots of writing, some “guides” and “partners” in these ventures – much to discuss. Let my know if interested.

    Thank you for asking and noting the usually “unseen” ethnography of the university.

    Harvey Sarles

  • burkanwills

    One interestingly ethnographical campus novel is Richard Russo, Straight Man.  Of course, it is worth wondering how the anthropologist would evolve a taxonomy for academics. Indeed, it could be argued that a vital function of the university is to keep them effectively incarcerated and the world in consequence a safer and rather more pleasant place.

  • richardtaborgreene

    JSBrown and Duguid, Lave and Wegner, by doing ethnographies of knowledge workers, document systems, and e-mediate learning colleges have tip-toe-d on and off the territory of Universe-ity.  

  • milst111

    Brigham Young himself wore a beard, but I guess he couldn’t work or study at BYU.

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