“UC Berkeley suspended a male sexuality class Friday after the campus newspaper published allegations that students watched their instructor have sex at a strip club and participated in an orgy at an extracurricular party,” The Sacramento Bee reports.

“The suspension was announced after student instructors of the male sexuality class failed to attend a meeting with a university official Friday, said Marie Felde, a spokeswoman for the University of California, Berkeley. An investigation into the course was launched two days ago.”

A female sexuality course is also under review, Felde said. Instructors named in Friday’s story by the Daily Californian could not be reached for comment.

The courses were offered under the university’s ‘democratic education’ or ‘de-cal’ program, which are sponsored but not funded by the university. They are organized and run by student instructors and can be taken for credit toward graduation. Other such courses are Blackjack, where students are taught how to count cards, and Copwatch, which advises students ‘how to safely and effectively assert their rights when interacting with police.’

Christy Kovacs, a UC Berkeley freshman who was enrolled in the male sexuality course last semester for two units, told The Bee that some students in the class were involved in an orgy at a party. The party was held to introduce students from other sections of the course and was not mandatory, Kovacs said.

Some partygoers also took Polaroid pictures of their genitalia, to show that their bodies were not disgusting, Kovacs said. The shots were viewed at the party in a “respectful way,” she said.

‘It was just a fun, harmless get-together,’ Kovacs said. ‘Anything weird that did go on was kind of behind closed doors, and no one really knew about it.’

Wow. Remember when undergraduate classes used to be hard — er, I mean, difficult? Here’s more, from The Daily Californian:

Caren Kaplan, chair of the Women’s Studies Department