Ilove college. I love college students. But most of all, I love college administrators.
I love college because here you can learn about the stuff that high school teachers don't dare touch with any maturity or honesty. I attended a small Catholic high school and was excited to take a class titled "Human Sexuality." I quickly realized that the course wasn't going to get into the juicy stuff. It wasn't going to explain why guys can be jerks, and it wasn't going to teach me how to get a date. Given that I wasn't going to learn that information in class, I talked to my friends. Somewhat to my surprise, my friends were good teachers. I walked away from conversations in the cafeteria with far more usable information than when I walked away from my "Human Sexuality" class.
After high school, it was refreshing to learn that universities and colleges tackle the tough and interesting issues with honesty. For example, at ASU, you can take a course on pornography. When I learned that, I thought, "It's about time. This is a huge issue in our society. There are a lot of people I know who support the pornography industry. Bravo to ASU for having the courage to educate people on the issue."
But ASU isn't the only university where you can take a course that covers the tough issues. At the University of California at Berkeley, you can take a student-run, for-credit course on male sexuality. Now we're talking! A student-run course where credit can be earned and the topic is interesting– sign me up.
Unfortunately, this course is facing a bit of a scandal. The UC Berkeley student newspaper uncovered some problems with it, and as a result, the course has been suspended.
Based on the story from The Daly Californian (the UC Berkeley student newspaper), The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that "some members of the class had participated in an orgy and watched an instructor have sex onstage at a strip club."
Students in the class told The Daily Californian, "the orgy occurred at a party held last semester at the home of some of the instructors to help students get acquainted. Attendance at the party was not mandatory nor was participation in a game in which party-goers took anonymous photographs of their genitalia for players to try to match to their owners."
An orgy at a party held in an instructor's home isn't good, but college students, to their credit, make the best out of bad situations. One student who took the class told reporters that it offered "an important opportunity for participants to discuss important issues about sexuality, including body image and violence in relationships."
I know that sometimes we students get a bad reputation for giving into primal desires. I look at it a different way. College students simply want to explore their world. They love to respond to very basic human desires.
But let's move on to why I love college administrators. These folks take action.
Caren Kaplan, the faculty sponsor responsible for overseeing the course, suspended it based on what the student newspaper reported.
College administrators also state the obvious. Marie Felde, the university's chief spokeswoman, said, "Those "orgies" were not part of the approved course curriculum. Any activity that happened outside of class would be optional." If I were a student in the course, I would take comfort in knowing that participating or not participating in an orgy would not negatively affect my grade.
I love another thing about college administrators. Most of the time, they are clueless. Kaplan stated that although she does offer teaching advice to student instructors, she does not interfere with the curriculum of the classes overall.
Thank goodness for that! If she were more invested and interested, she might actually realize that college students love to respond to very basic human desires.
After I read the story about UC Berkeley's course on male sexuality, I smiled. Before I went to college, I several people told me that "it isn't the real world."
It may not be real, but who cares? I love it!
Rosie McSweeney is a graduate social work student and can be reached at rosie.m@asu.edu.
