The Week in College Sex

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.