Right of privacy and Western Nevada College

I heartily endorse a recent Nevada Appeal editorial that raised serious questions about a controversial sex education course being offered at Western Nevada College. "Some of what's being taught in WNC's Human Sexuality course has no place in the classroom," the editorial concluded, and I agree.

Shortly before that editorial was published late last month, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to decertify the class as a dual-credit course available to both college and high school students.

"The State Board of Education takes pupil protection very seriously," said board member Dave Cook after the vote. That's OK as far as it goes, but I think there's much more to this disturbing story.

I also agree with my erudite friend Karl Neathammer, who told the board that he objects to a course requirement imposed by the instructor, Tom Kubistant, directing the students to masturbate and to keep journals chronicling their sexual activities. "A reasonable person ... would not be expected to perform or to commit to a sexual act on themselves or on another (person) in order to complete the requirements for this course," Neathammer said.

But that's what Kubistant did, much to the chagrin of 60-year-old student Karen Royce, who complained to the college. WNC administrators decided that her complaint was "unfounded," and the case was subsequently dismissed by the U.S. Education Department's ineffectual Civil Rights Office; however, that doesn't mean we shouldn't take a closer look at what's going on at our local college.

Neathammer intends to pursue the matter with the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education and called upon WNC President Dr. Carol Lucey to issue a public apology to Ms. Royce and the community. I think that's a reasonable request, and I was pleased when University Regent Ron Knecht, of Carson City, a well-known family-values conservative, said he would raise the issue with the board.

"It strongly appears that Western Nevada College and the Nevada System of Higher Education are so hunkered down in anticipation of litigation ... that they have abandoned academic openness, accountability and duty to our students, families and communities," Knecht wrote in a letter to his fellow regents. He told me last week that he thinks all Nevada higher-education professors and instructors should be required to post their course objectives and requirements online.

Meanwhile, I'd like to know where Dr. Lucey stands in the battle between academic freedom and the right of privacy. I come down on the side of privacy, and think ACLU lawyers are correct when they argue that the Constitution implicitly "protects our freedom to make certain decisions about our bodies and our private lives without interference from the government, which includes the public schools." I agree with the ultra-liberal ACLU on this one.

If I were a personal-injury attorney, I'd offer to file an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit for damages on behalf of Ms. Royce, and I think I'd win in court. Fortunately for WNC, however, I'm not an attorney, just a crotchety old columnist.

• Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, is the Appeal's senior political columnist.