Mark Young

    Students at one Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) dormitory not only have time for reading and writing, but also, apparently, for lap dances. At a November 19, event—reminiscent of a scene from the movie “Animal House”—residents of the school’s East Campus turned a lounge into a sex club complete with strippers and sex toys.
    Under the East Campus’ social program, each of the ten floors is to host a party for the other floors during the semester. The party, hosted by the second floor of the East Campus-West Building, gave students an opportunity to experience a show of four female strippers. Although support for the party was not unanimous, Benjamin O’Conner, the former chairman of the floor, stated, “it was a forgone conclusion that it was going to happen.”
    The performers not only displayed their physical assets to the crowd, but also engaged in simulated intercourse. One student indicated that this year’s show “was more intense than in prior years.” 
    The funding for the strip act came from a mandated housing tax imposed on the residents. Decisions on fund allocation are made by majority vote from a body consisting of ten representatives, one each from the dorm’s ten floors. Ties are broken with a vote from the president of the dorm’s Executive Committee.
    While the housing tax is mandatory, attendance at the parties is not. Even so, several students objected to having their money used for something with which they disagreed. Remarked East Campus resident Mary Ann Rasku, “I just think [those who want to watch strippers] should go off-campus and use their own money.”
    However, defenders of the program pointed to the variety of events offered and the merits of exposing the entire dormitory to the “diversity” of its members. 
    Similar controversies are brewing nationwide. Later this year, the Supreme Court will decide whether compulsory student activity fees may be used to fund activities and groups that individuals may not want to support. In Southworth v. U. of Wisconsin, students at Wisconsin have objected to their student fee of over $300 a year being used to fund various socialist, environmental, and homosexual groups’ activities and political lobbying efforts.