Sex Week Could Be Banned at Yale University
Correction appended
Sex Week at Yale University could be canceled after a ban was recently recommended by the university’s president Richard Levin.
“Undergraduates for a Better Yale College,” a student organization led by Eduardo Andino (Yale'13) is partially responsible for raising the issue in an ad in the Yale Daily News and a series of op-eds.
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As a result of their efforts, a recommendation was first made by an Advisory Committee on Campus Climate in a Sept. 15 report sent to Yale’s president.
It stated: “We recommend that ‘Sex Week at Yale’ be prohibited from using Yale’s name or any of Yale facilities. We recognize that the role of events have in promoting healthy discourse and helping students explore issues of intimacy, love, and relationships as they relate to their own lives, but feel that the most recent iterations of ‘Sex Week at Yale’ cannot accomplish this.”
The committee alleged that in recent years the event clearly has lost the focus of its stated intention and has prominently “featured titillating displays, ‘adult’ film stars, and commercial sponsors of such material.”
President Levin responded to the issue by expressing that he agreed with the committee’s findings and recommendations. He said: “Sexual misconduct is inimical to the values of a university that prizes community and the full development of human potential.”
Andino and UBYC have said they are working hard to promote better dialogue about issues related to sexuality. In the Yale Daily News webpage Andino expressed his appreciation for the “overwhelmingly positive response” they have received so far.
“Students, alumni, faculty and parents have signed our petition, sent us emails and called us to encourage our efforts and ask how they could help,” he said, according to the publication.
As Sex Week 2012 approaches, Andino urges students to “tell Yale that you want a campus marked by respect and love, full of flourishing friendships based on the acknowledgment of each person’s integral value, relationships based on true love between partners-not transient lust-and a sense of familial trust between all students.”
Correction: December 4, 2011:
A previous version of this article mistakenly attributed quotes to students from the group Undergraduates for a Better Yale College (UBYC), and stated that the Sex Week was officially canceled. However, the Sex Week event has only been recommended to be canceled.
