Smut, bureaucracy, and retaliation: How academia lost its mind

The first time Naomi Epps Best enrolled in human sexuality, a course for her graduate program at Santa Clara University, it didn’t go well. The course required her to read a book called The Guide to Getting It On, a sexually illustrative book whose tamer chapters include “Semen Confidential,” “What’s Inside a Girl,” and “Handjobs.” To make matters worse, one assignment required students to write a 10-page paper on their own sexual history.

Uncomfortable with the assignment, Epps Best, who recently shared her experiences in a Wall Street Journal article, requested a different assignment. The department chairman denied her request. So the graduate student appealed — to the Title IX office, the provost, and even Santa Clara’s president.