University of Tennessee officials announced late Wednesday that State funding totalling $11,145 would be pulled from the promotion and activities of so-called "Sex Week" after a public row over funds from academic departments and programs paid for by the taxpayers of Tennessee being used to fund the proposed activities. The public funding formed the bulk of the initial cost for the proposed events, and was pulled after the controversy culminated in an angry speech from the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives from Rep. Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) Monday night. With the possibility of future State funding to the University of Tennessee being cut, UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek pulled the public funding from "Sex Week."
In response, the organizers of "Sex Week" were able to raise some $7,000 through a PayPal account on the website for the event and via the "independent" website called indigogo in order to pay for the debauchery festival largely from private funds, though money from student fees will, at last report, still be used to partially fund the week-long celebration of deviancy. If students want to have such events, they should certainly be paid for from private funds, as will (mostly) be the case.
Since a group of students were apparently so adamant that "Sex Week" go ahead as planned that they were able to raise the funds to put it on themselves, this begs the larger question: How much public money does UT need for student activities, since students have clearly shown that if they want to have or engage in a given activity, they are obviously perfectly capable of raising the money to pay for it themselves?
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