LJWorld.com

• Email
• iPod-friendly
• Print

State higher education leaders have begun writing a policy for teaching sexually explicit topics, but that might not keep sex education from becoming an issue in the Legislature next year.

State Sen. Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican who introduced the policy requirement earlier this year after controversy about a sexuality class taught by Kansas University professor Dennis Dailey, said she expected lawmakers to revisit the issue no matter what the policies say.

"I think the Legislature is very interested in following up," Wagle said. "It is taxpayer money, so there are a lot of issues to be balanced there."

The policies, which must be in place by Jan. 12, resulted from debate sparked by Wagle in this year's legislative session about Dailey's teachings. Dailey teaches a popular course on human sexuality.

Wagle, based on assertions from one of her interns who was a student in Dailey's class, claimed he showed pornographic videos, made vulgar comments to female students and promoted pedophilia.

Wagle's amendment

Wagle introduced an amendment to cut $3.1 million in state funding to KU's School of Social Welfare if it was determined Dailey used obscene materials in class. Students rallied in support of Dailey, and the controversy drew national attention with Wagle making an appearance on the Fox TV show "The O'Reilly Factor."

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed the measure.

Wagle then introduced a measure requiring state universities to have policies on the "use of sexually explicit materials, including videos, as part of the curriculum of human sexuality classes or other similar classes, teaching about the issue of pedophilia" and "sexual harassment as it relates to teaching such classes."

KU conducted an internal investigation and cleared Dailey of any wrongdoing.

The Council of Chief Academic Officers -- an advisory group to the Kansas Board of Regents composed of provosts from state universities -- last week appointed a panel of students, provosts and faculty to draft policies that could be used at any or all of the state universities.

Freedom vs. standards

KU sex class (stories and video reports)

Blake Shuart, legislative director for KU's Student Senate, is the lone KU representative on the committee. He said he expected the group to begin meeting in the next few weeks and have a proposal to the regents perhaps as soon as next month.

"I think, on one hand, we definitely need to highlight the fact that academic freedom is something that's consistent in all six schools, and that professors should use the methods that are most effective to get their point across," said Shuart, a senior from Topeka. "On the other hand, we need a statement that says when this line is crossed."

He said he expected the policy to be broad enough to be adopted by all six state universities.

Janice DeBauge, chairwoman of the Board of Regents, said she thought the universities should have the option of writing their own policies. She declined to comment about what those policies would include.

"The board's going to be careful to follow the law on this," she said, "and really that's the only comment I have on it."

No comment from KU

Lynn Bretz, a KU spokeswoman, said KU officials weren't ready to comment about the policy, either.

"We're following the regents' direction on this," she said.

Wagle said she expected the Legislature to review the policies to determine whether they were acceptable.

"I think it's in their best interest to ensure student rights are being protected, and that someone's not taking advantage of their academic freedom in this sort of a setting," she said. "I think in the House and Senate, there was tremendous concern about what was going on in these classrooms."