NU Pulls Sexuality Class from Curriculum

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 10, 2011 1:30PM

Northwestern psychology majors hoping to learn about human sexuality from J. Michael Bailey are going to have to fall back on their second choices after NU dropped the course from the Department of Psychology's curriculum. Bailey's Human Sexuality course, if you'll remember, is the course where an after-class, optional live demonstration of a marital aid called a fuck saw generated tons of publicity for the university. And not the kind they wanted.

University spokesman Alan Cubbage said in a prepared statement, "Courses in human sexuality are offered in a variety of academic departments in other universities, and Northwestern is reviewing how such a course best fits into the University's curriculum." Cubbage further clarified that pulling the Human Sexuality course out of the curriculum is not a direct result of the fuck saw fallout, but a related outcome. The decision was also made by someone at NU's central administration. Both Psychology school chair Dan McAdams and assistant chair Ben Gorvine said the decision wasn't theirs. McAdams told the Sun-Times, “It was made by the central administration, either the president or the provost.”

University President Morton Schapiro launched an investigation into the sex toy demonstration after the story broke and garnered international headlines. Bailey will still be teaching other classes at NU.