Tonight at 7:30pm the Edmund Burke Society will conduct the first installment of their debate series with a discussion entitled the "Dorm Brothel Debate" to be held in the Philosophy Library, fittingly located in Cocke Hall. University students never fail to recognize the humorous innuendo inherent in the names of buildings and dormitories such as Cocke Hall, Gooch Houses, Woody House, and the former Balz House, located on Grounds. By the end of their first year, students invariably have been exposed to a dozen or more crude jokes regarding these building titles. The locker-room humor may appear inconsequential at first; however, the soiled wit serves as an indication of the sexual flippancy which corrupts American college culture, even at the University.
An article by Vigen Guroian's, professor of theology at the University, from the February 2005 publication of Christianity Today, will serve as the intellectual foundation for the Burke Society debate. The article highlights the "sexualization" of American youth and the role that universities played in facilitating the hook-up culture. In the article, Guroian argues that "[c]olleges and universities simply do not acknowledge, let alone address, the sexualization of the American college. Rather, they do everything possible to put a smiley face on an unhealthy and morally destructive environment, one that - and this is no small matter - also makes serious academic study next to impossible." Guroian contends that through the structuring of student life, universities actively contributed to the growth of casual sex and the destructive hook-up culture.
The fact that the Burke Society, which declares itself "an institution dedicated to the preservation of conservative thought," even considers the cultural liberalization of student life through university policies such as the implementation of coed dorms and bathrooms up for debate appears to be a non sequitur. As Society President Wes Siler indicates, the debate is manifested in the distinctions between the moral versus libertarian spectrums of conservative ideology. Libertarian conservatives argue that "students, as adults, have a right to conduct their lives as they see fit," while moral conservatives defend their belief that educational institutions possess a responsibility to guide students in making responsible sexual choices.
The reasoning behind both sides of the conservative argument displays intellectual validity. The differing conservative bents in the debate will explore opposing interpretations of the rights and responsibilities of the individual compared to those of the institution in dealing with the collegiate culture of sexual promiscuity. Unfortunately, like the crude jokes surrounding the building names on Grounds, this debate serves as another reminder of the fallen moral standards of the University community. The University was created as an institution where students could quench their thirst for knowledge, not satiate their youthful lust.
Many religious and cultural groups, from the Catholic Church in Europe to the various schools of Buddhism in the cultures of Southeast Asia, consider chastity an integral part of serious study. Societies from around the world recognize the difficulties students face when attempting to bestow serious focus on intellectual pursuits while simultaneously engaging in the quest for sexual gratification. American universities, however, arrogantly believe that their students possess the capacity to successfully juggle those two conflicting desires and have created an institutional structure that has devolved into a part-time brothel. As University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Clark Kerr stated, "I find the three major administrative problems on a campus are [providing] sex for the students, athletics for the alumni, and parking for the faculty."
Students should be outraged that the university system entertains such low expectations of student sexual conduct. Colleges have renounced the promotion of a chaste academic environment and reverted to the ease of a damage control response. That response involves, among other initiatives, the distribution of condoms to students at every available opportunity. The universities are enacting a band-aid-like approach to addressing the problems associated with increased student sexual activity which sends the message that colleges no longer believe their students possess the capabilities to control their own bodies.
The Burke Society debate tonight will prove an interesting exploration into whether the University should attempt to actively combat the growing culture of sexual promiscuity in college life in order to provide an environment more conducive to serious studies. The tragedy inherent in the debate, however, is that there exists a need to focus on that topic. The true purpose of the college experience has evidently been lost on the students who are currently attending America's universities. Ideally, whether or not the University polices sexual conduct or promotes a liberal sexual culture should exert little influence on the behavior of the student body. Students should possess the self-discipline to focus on academics, not on sexual pursuits. In tandem with popular culture, however, American university leadership has successfully expelled the concept of disciplining the body as well as the mind from the university experience.
Ginny Robertson is a Viewpoint Writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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