A Republican legislator said Thursday that the entire UW System could face consequences for an article on gay men’s sexual preferences assigned to a class of UW-Madison sociology students this week.
UW-Madison instructor Jason Nolen assigned the article to students in Sociology 134, a class addressing race and ethnicity as it relates to relationships. Sociology Department Chair Pamela Oliver said in a release that the reading analyzed sexual racism on the online dating site Grindr.
In a letter to UW System leaders and the Board of Regents, Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, called the article “offensive” and questioned whether it represented the “spirit of the Wisconsin Idea.”
Nass demanded in the letter that UW System President Ray Cross, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and every regent read the article and give him their thoughts about it. He warned that their answers could have an impact on the system’s 2017-’19 budget.
Nass has attacked the system in the past and backed major cuts that fell upon it after the state’s last biennial budget. Though he is currently the chair of the Committee on Colleges and Universities, Nass does not sit on the Joint Finance Committee, which ultimately decides how the system will fare in the budget.
Oliver’s response called Nolen an award-winning instructor who has received positive reviews from students, and said the material “appropriately pushes boundaries in order to spark discussion.”
“Among adult college students, analyzing how people talk about sexuality is considered appropriate material,” Oliver wrote.
