Fridae

A controversial student-run course at the University of California, Berkeley, has been suspended after a campus newspaper revealed that students took trips to strip clubs and "sex exchanges" and watched an instructor strip.

Some also said a party at an instructor's house included group sex and a "party game" that had students photographing their genitalia and then trying to match the pictures to the correct body.

Students also allegedly watched their tutor have sex at a gay strip club.

The male sexuality course has been taught for over five years under what is known as a Democratic Education at Cal or 'de-cal' programme. Such classes are initiated and taught by UC Berkeley students.

Although the university does not fund the classes, students are given free use of campus facilities and earn credits that count towards their graduation.

Caren Kaplan, chairman of the Women's Studies Department - and responsible for overseeing the course told the student-run Daily Californian that she does not "police the content."

Under current policies, the sponsoring professor must sign off on the curriculum and then is "responsible for the content" of the class. The head of the sponsoring department has to agree "that the course is an appropriate one for his or her department."

But since Kaplan is both the sponsoring professor and the chair of the department, no secondary approval was needed.

A University spokesman told the Sacramento Bee newspaper, ?Those sorts of activities are not part of the approved course curriculum, ? when asked to comment on allegations in the campus publication.

A freshman who took the course last term told a UK paper said that there had been an open invitation to any students who were interested in attending an after-class orgy at another instructor's home.

He added that the party was held to introduce students from other sections of the course and was not mandatory, Kovacs said.

A female sexuality course at the same university which involved visits to strip clubs and lectures from porn stars has not been suspended, but is under review.

The course description on the 'de cal' website says the class is "intended to provide a safe environment in which men may learn about their own bodies and male sexuality. This course aims to create a greater community of men and women who are empathetic, understanding and supportive of each other's sexuality."