BERKELEY, Calif.– On this University of California 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. Suess, 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’re taught by students–allowing curious undergraduates to venture beyond the standard subjects in the course catalogue.
But now, students worry that the program could be in danger. Officials 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 were also investigating a female sexuality course offered through de-cal, but its sessions have been allowed to continue. UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said 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.
Some undergrads on the 32,000-student campus defended the de-cal program.
Catherine Ahn, a student gover nment vice president, said some students consider de-cal courses the best classes Berkeley offers.
She called the classes “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 freshman Tim Shoffner . “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.”
Shoffner and several friends downplayed the controversy but said they feared 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 911.’ 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 believed the program should in the future make sure students know that they are not required to participate in any extra curricular field trips.
But sophomore Jordan Webb, said 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.”
Whether their 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.”
by JOHNGLIONNA and DANIEL HERNANDEZLos Angeles Times
