Duke Involved In New Stripper Controversy

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Duke Involved In New Stripper Controversy

Special Report - February 15, 2008
Duke University recently hosted a performance of the “Sex Workers Art Show,” self-described as a cabaret-style performance of people who work in the sex industry. The show’s website states that it includes “people from all areas of the sex industry: strippers, prostitutes, dommes, film stars, phone sex operators, internet models, etc.” More than 300 people attended the performance in Duke’s Bryan Center on Sunday, Feburary 3, according to the Chronicle Online (Duke’s student newspaper). Duke allowed the performance, despite a university rule adopted in the aftermath of the lacrosse scandal that forbids student groups from hiring strippers.

According to the Chronicle Online, the primary sponsor of the event was The Healthy Devil peer educators group, Duke Educational Leaders In Sexual Health. The performance received $3,500 of funding from the University Fund (comprised of contributions from the offices of the President, Provost, Dean of Trinity College, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Alumni Affairs), the Women's Center, Baldwin Scholars Program, Campus Council and the Student Health Center.

The “Sex Workers Art Show” has performed at universities around the country, including Harvard University, Yale University, The University of Michigan, The University of Texas, and the University of California at Los Angeles. It performed at the College of William & Mary in Virginia the night after it appeared at Duke and reportedly contributed to the resignation of the school’s President Gene Nichol, who formerly served as Dean of the UNC Law School. According to Transworld News and the Raleigh News & Observer, Nichol came under fire for the appearance and was notified by the school’s Board of Visitors that his contract would not be renewed.

Duke has come under fire for allowing the show to appear on campus from ABC News, USA Today, Christian News Wire, FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”, the BadgerHerald (University of Wisconsin student newspaper), and the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, among others. Students for an Ethical Duke, headed by Ken Larrey, has also criticized the performance and Duke’s decision to allow it to come to campus in the wake of the Duke lacrosse scandal.

In her News and Observer column on February 6, Ruth Sheehan criticized the event, writing: “How could a school so thoroughly thrashed and embarrassed in the course of the lacrosse affair be so tone deaf as to bring in a sex worker show?” Duke Vice President for Student Affairs, Larry Moneta, answered with a letter to the editor, containing this justification: “Duke—like other universities in the Triangle and across the country—routinely hosts shows and speakers whom some people find controversial." Sheehan asked whether Duke had a clue how such events might be perceived in the wake of the Duke lacrosse case. The answer is they should be perceived as evidence that Duke continues to be a community filled with diverse people and opinions, and one committed to academic freedom and free speech.”

North Carolina Family Policy Council President, Bill Brooks, said, “It is a shame that some of our finest universities believe that education involves the institutionalization of pornography and sexual gratification. We should all be alarmed that an institution of higher education is promoting activities that degrade people and support such a low view of human sexuality.”