Class orgies and field trips to strip clubs are hardly prerequisites for graduation. But the temporary suspension of a male sexuality house course at the University of California at Berkeley for such activities has caused members of the Duke community to evaluate the accountability of its own house courses.
According to Trinity College, such courses are intended "to enhance intellectual life on campus." The primary requirement is that classes take place in a residence hall, although students are also required to produce written work and complete weekly readings.
A student instructor seeking approval for her house course must obtain the signatures of the faculty supervisor, department chair, department director of undergraduate studies and the president of the residence hall in which the course will take place. The faculty sponsor must attend course meetings, submit a course evaluation and assign pass/fail grades.
"It seems important to point out that these instructors are not instructors--they are undergraduates," said Elena Glasberg, director of the Program in the Study of Sexualities. "Students don't have all of the book knowledge, but they have an engagement and immediacy of the knowledge... [but] it is difficult to control what is considered pedagogical relations and what isn't."
Glasberg noted that house courses allow students to investigate topics through a variety of methods not usually found in standard classroom settings. She added that courses in sexuality can be valuable if the approach is one that does not involve coercing or hurting students.
"What they are doing can be seen as useful and valuable," Glasberg said. "Learning about certain forms of sexuality and doing ethnographic work on the economic implications can be very valuable. We should be learning about [sexuality] just like we should be learning about algorithms--it's all about how you approach it.
"I think students have sex all the time--I think students are interested in it," she added. "Many people see sexuality as a moral crisis.... I reject the stigmatization of sex as a non-legitimate study."
Currently, Duke has one house course that explores sexuality. Senior Amanda Miller, the student instructor of Sweet Temptations: Women, Sex and Food, said the course had 15 people on its wait list.
"Someone told me any course that has the word Osex' in the title always has a lot of student interest," Miller said. "People not only want to talk about it with their friends but also in an academic context, one in which they aren't being judged and can express different opinions."
Although Miller said she has been pleased with the house course guidelines, she said limited funding and the inability to leave campus were somewhat restricting.
Anne Allison, associate professor of cultural anthropology, has been pleased with her experience as the faculty sponsor of the course.
"It doesn't strike me that courses pertaining to sexuality should be more or less monitored," Allison said. "Sexuality is incredibly important to have access to, and at Duke, there aren't many courses which deal with the topic."
Although improved communication and student training could improve future house courses, Allison said the University should not completely control courses. Student instructors should have the chance to develop their own style and teaching methods.
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