A Kansas state senator is trying to pull funding for a human sexuality class taught at Kansas University that she feels is obscene - and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is deciding whether or not she'll use her line item veto power to let the course go on.
The university says it's investigating Sen. Susan Wagle complaints that professor Dennis Dailey's class materials are pornographic, the use of which constitutes harassment of female students. W
Wagle detailed her objections in a letter to KU chancellor Robert Hemenway dated April 6 -- 10 days after she brought the issue to the Senate.
Sebelius has until Monday to decide whether to sign the budget bill, which would withhold state money from university departments that use materials deemed obscene under state law, a provision attatched by Wagle to the state budget.
KU officials, professors, and students have been lobbying fiercely for the class, which is one of the most popular classes at the university. Dailey has taught the class for 20 years without complaint.
Wagle said she started pursuing the issue in January after being contacted by a student taking the class. Later, Wagle said, she contacted other students in the class who she said had similar complaints. She wrote the amendment which would pull funding not only for Daigle's class, but the entire School of Social Welfare - if materials used in the class are found to be obscene. A court would make that determination, based on community standards.
If Wagle's amendment becomes law, KU could lose $3.1 million in state funding and universities with similar classes could see their funding cut.
"I just can't imagine being a female and sitting through that class," Wagle said.
Among Wagle's complaints against Dailey are his use of "groping motions" when discussing women's breasts and his encouragement of students to contact him outside of class to discuss sexual problems.
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