Legislators critical of the upcoming Sex Week UT say University of Tennessee officials moved in the right direction by cutting state funding to the event. But they would like to go further.
Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, said that UT’s withdrawal Wednesday of $11,145 in state funds previously allocated to the weeklong campus program on sex and sex behavior topics was “a half-step.” About $6,700 in student fee monies are still being channeled toward the events, and Campfield said that should be eliminated, too.
“Those fees are mandatory for all students,” he said. “I don’t think most parents and students who pay them want their money going to promoting this kind of thing.”
By Thursday, donations and contributions had largely made up the difference as word spread online about the controversy.
Campfield said the Senate Education Committee has asked that UT President Joe DiPietro and Knoxville campus Chancellor Jimmy Cheek appear before the panel to discuss Sex Week UT and UT policies on such events. Or, as Campfield put it, “Explain the academic merits of a seminar on oral sex.”

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