Students Fear Effects of Sex Class Scandal at Berkeley

On this UC campus renowned for its tolerance, many students consider the courses a welcome distraction from the staid offerings of the ivory tower.

Known as “democratic education at Cal”--or “de-cal”--classes, their subjects range from “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons” to Dr. Seuss, the Grateful Dead, professional wrestling and “The Joy of Garbage.”

For many, the 100 or so for-credit electives represent what’s best about an education at UC Berkeley. Though overseen by faculty, they are taught by students--allowing curious undergraduates to venture beyond the standard subjects in the course catalog.

But now, students worry that the program could be in danger. Officials on Friday suspended a course on male sexuality amid allegations that students last semester engaged in an orgy, took graphic pictures and watched a student teacher have sex onstage at a gay strip club.

Officials also are investigating a female sexuality course offered through de-cal, but its sessions have been allowed to continue. UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said Wednesday that the investigation does not extend beyond those two courses.

“Right now, we’re looking at the allegations about what went on in the male sexuality class. That’s where our focus is right now,” she said.

Meanwhile, some undergrads on the 32,000-student campus, known for its open attitudes toward sexuality and free speech, defended the de-cal program.

Catherine Ahn, a student government vice president, said some students consider de-cal courses the best classes Berkeley offers.

She called the courses “really important, incredibly important,” adding that they fill “that empty space where faculty can’t go.”

Other students agreed.

“I ask friends of mine who go to other schools what classes they take and they say ‘Oh, you know, biology,’ and I just blow them out of the water when I say, ‘Well, I took a course on blaxploitation films and ‘Star Wars,’” said 18--year-old Tim Shoffner, a freshman from Laguna Beach. “It gives students a chance to teach their own classes. You can learn a lot that way, seeing the other side of the academic equation.”

Sitting in busy Sproul Plaza, Shoffner and several male friends downplayed the controversy but said they feared that it could jeopardize the de-cal program.

“That’s a terrible thing, because there’s a lot of good classes that don’t get so much hype,” said freshman Gavin Raders. “I’m taking a de-cal class now called ‘Foreign Policy Since 9/11.’ It’s immediate. It’s taught by students. And you can’t find it anywhere else.”

Student Ellen Byun said her friend took de-cal’s female sexuality class, which included a field trip to a female strip club. “The whole focus was feeling good about your body,” she said. “These classes are edgy, because that’s the way people like them. I think this has been blown way out of proportion.”

Several students said they believe that the program should make sure students know they are not required to participate in extracurricular field trips.

But sophomore Jordan Webb, said that sometimes the male sex-ed class went too far. “They’d dress up in nothing but thongs and pass out fliers for the course,” he said. “Sometimes these foreign engineering students would be so afraid, they’d actually run away. And these guys would chase them.”

On Wednesday, even de-cal organizers blasted the male-sexuality class leaders on the program Web site. “If the allegations are indeed true, they wrote, “then ... the student [teachers] displayed not only the glaring lack of a moral compass but the absence of even the most basic common sense.”

The uproar comes after the Daily Californian, the student newspaper, published allegations that an orgy occurred at a party held at the home of a student instructor. The party was intended to help students get acquainted but was not mandatory, the paper said.

The paper also reported that some students played a game in which they privately took Polaroid snapshots of their genitalia, and that the group later tried to match the photos with the correct owner.

Other students reportedly went to a gay strip club as their final project and watched the class leaders strip and have sex onstage, according to the student paper.

The online de-cal course catalog says the male sexuality class is intended “to provide a safe environment in which men may work through their sexual frustrations and curiosities. With an emphasis on self-respect and respect for others, this class will cover a wide range of topics surrounding male sexuality regardless of their sexual orientation or personal sexual background.”

Whether the sexuality courses will continue remains an open question. But some students predict the uproar will pass.

“This is going to be one of those Berkeley things,” Webb said. “They’ll debate it for years, but nothing will happen.”