Marquette honors program-sponsored FemSex cancelled again

The University Honors Program will no longer sponsor FemSex, a weekly student workshop centered on the discussion of female sexuality and reproduction, despite its recent return to campus. The decision came roughly eight months after the university originally pulled its support for the program when it was initially sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center last semester.

The Tribune reported Sept. 10 that the program was returning this semester despite scrutiny from some donors, alumni and faculty. The FemSex syllabus underwent some minor changes for its return, but the changes were not substantial enough for the university to back the workshop, Marquette said in a statement Monday.

“As a Catholic, Jesuit university, Marquette supports the educational and intellectual exploration of issues regarding gender and sexuality,” the statement said. “Early this week, a student-led Female Sexuality workshop was promoted on campus with sponsorship from an academic program. Following a discussion with the program about academic sponsorship, including the requirement of faculty presence, the program chose not to continue sponsoring the Female Sexuality workshop.”

Amelia Zurcher, a professor of English and director of the Honors Program, said she did not have a comment about the decision at this time. The workshop’s founders, Alisha Balistreri Klapps, who is unaffiliated with Marquette, and graduate students Claire Van Fossen and Rachel Bruns, could not be reached for comment at this time either.

continue at Marquette Tribune

I'd also go get details at Marquette Warrior

His conclusion is something that must be known.

So when subject to extreme provocation, and when an attack on the Catholic nature of the University creates enough of an uproar, the Administration will come down on the side of Catholic teaching.

But it remains disturbing that several parts of the University (Honors and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center are far from the only ones) are flatly opposed to Catholic teaching on sexuality, and will undermine that teaching when they can get away with it.