The world-famed journalism school of the Ivy League's Columbia University has had a considerable number of its alumni who have been or are at present with the New York Times.
Possibly, this is why this alleged "newspaper of record" has not reported what has just been exposed in such considerable detail by New York Daily News reporter Douglas Feiden, under the headline: "WILD SEX 101."
This expose in turn has been picked up by both the ABC and Fox networks.
"WILD SEX 101" detailed, among other things, the following, which it identified as "university sanctioned":
Conversio Virium, (Latin for "exchange of power"), a sadomasochism organization where a Daily News reporter watched a (non-university) lecturer, who identified himself only as "Dov," as he flogged a female student volunteer with leather whips, rubber hoses – and a cat-o'-nine-tails – for 14 minutes, evoking squeals and occasional yelps of pain.
When I contacted Columbia University spokesman Robert Hornsby and asked if there was anything inaccurate in the Daily News in reporting this 14-minute flagellation of a female, Mr. Hornsby replied:
"Conversio has been around her for 10 years. That's nothing new."
So, I asked: "Has Columbia University's president, Lee Bollinger, had anything to say about this?" (The Daily News reported: "Lee Bollinger, the school's $779,673-a-year president and a world-class expert on free speech, wasn't available.")
Said Hornsby: "President Bollinger has not addressed it directly."
At least Hornsby was courteous – in distinct contrast to reporter Feiden who, when I reached him by telephone, was rude and non-communicative.
But I cannot agree with the first two paragraphs of the Columbia statement about Sex 101:
"In his inquiry about free speech at Columbia University, the New York Daily News reporter has conflated various unrelated matters, seemingly mixing commentary about public, political speech with opinions of morality concerning personal and private lifestyle choices by young adults. By repeatedly raising questions about so-called 'appropriateness,' this reporter reveals a personal and highly subjective argument.
"It is also disturbing that this reporter entered private property and attended not just one, but two meetings of the student group Conversio Virium without identifying himself as a reporter – in violation of the members' trust – in order to report on their private lives. The students have found this to be invasive and creepy. One can wonder if anyone would agree with or appreciate the exposure of their personal time in this manner."
There was a lot more than female flagellating reported by the Daily News.
At Columbia, where the tuition is $33,246 apiece, per annum, the Daily News also reported, among other things:
- Miriam Datskovsky, the sex columnist for the Spectator, Columbia's student newspaper: "Having sex in the Butler Library is one of the ultimate Columbia experiences." (Butler Library, with 2 million books, is open 24 hours a day.) "Everything is so much easier and so much quicker – you go to dinner and then have sex."
- At Columbia, there are "naked parties" and "clothing optional parties with naked rooms."
- Bond offerings and loans from the state Dormitory Authority and federal Department of Education partially funded the renovation of dorms where naked frolickers muster.
One hostess, who staged a Halloween-themed "Naked Witches & Warlocks Party" last month, called it a "great unshackling from the clothing that so defines and imprisons us."
- "Sex Toys 101." The university's Health Services division teamed up with Toys in Babeland, a SoHo sex shop, to host a sex toys workshop in John Jay Hall Feb. 15.
- "Sexhibition." The annual campus sex fair, held in April, featured phallic ring toss games, orgasm-for-beginners workshops and discreet liaisons in the "Tent of Consent."
- "Thug Play with Princess Wendy." Another session of the S&M club, taking place Oct. 30 in Hamilton Hall, was advertised as "beating, punching and slamming boys into lockers, and why bullies are so so so much fun!" (Princess Wendy: "I like to hurt people. I don't like to send them to the hospital. If you're new to kicking and trampling, start off slow.")
The Daily News also reported Baltimore-based National Coalition for Sexual Freedom spokeswoman Susan Wright said: "Educating people about the safest flogging techniques so they don't accidentally strike the kidneys is responsible behavior."
Then the News reported:
"'Smut TV.' CTV, Columbia's in-house, student-run TV station, has a faculty adviser, uses school equipment and space, gets $5,021 a year in student activity fees – and is hungry for new viewers.
"So at 10 p.m. on Oct. 17, it entered the hard-core porn business: Broadcasting into scores of dorms and lounges, it aired a five-minute clip, downloaded from the Internet, of a naked couple engaged in sex."
All this raises the very serious question as to why this university, which tolerates such incredible behavior on campus, deserves either tax-exemption, government subsidies, to charge high tuitions – and the right to award Pulitzer Prizes.
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