Loyola College announced yesterday that it will provide "closer oversight" of future human sexuality seminars after several students protested the showing of films of intimate sex acts as part of a noncredit course.
A faculty committee appointed to look into the content of the course taught on the North Baltimore campus since 1993 "has decided that explicit videos and films will not be used in future offerings . . . unless they are first reviewed and approved to ensure that they are appropriate and necessary for undergraduate students," Loyola's provost said.
Thomas Scheye, the official, said that the Rev. Harold Ridley, president of Loyola, accepted the committee recommendations.
The announcement drew different reactions from Cardinal William H. Keeler, who had opposed the showing of sex videos by the college, and from students who backed continuation of the controversial Thursday lectures, including the films.
Through a spokesman, Cardinal Keeler said he was gratified that Father Ridley and the Jesuit institution's administration had acted quickly to review the six-session undergraduate elective.
"However, the cardinal remains very concerned about the use of any sexually explicit materials," said William Blaul, the archdiocesan spokesman, adding that "the bottom line is that he does not feel that any sexually explicit films should be shown on a Catholic campus."
Loyola has not denied that the seminar's videos graphically showed a variety of sex acts of men and women, including gays and lesbians. The films were described in a full-page advertisement placed in the student newspaper Feb. 7 by campus critics calling for the classes to be canceled.
A debate among students and faculty sparked by the ad has grown to include discussions of censorship, academic freedom and whether Catholic doctrinal stands on homosexuality, premarital sex and masturbation are justified.
Last night, before the final session of this year's sexuality seminar in Knott Hall, about 150 undergraduates organized by the Student Government Association rallied in support of Father Ridley; the two psychology professors who teach the class, Charles T. LoPresto and Cynthia Mendelson; "and Loyola College's right to educate."
Flyers expressing this support were distributed after students learned that the showing of the sex videos might be curtailed.
The controversy has engaged many alumni, a college spokesman said, as well as the cardinal and other archdiocesan officials who feared the course was in conflict with Roman Catholic teachings.
Dr. LoPresto denied that the videos used were "pornographic" -- as the critics of the seminar maintained -- because their intent was not to titillate but to instruct.
The professor said before yesterday's announcement by Loyola's administration that he was confident the course would continue next year without significant changes despite the faculty committee's review.
The ad describing the seminar -- the accuracy of which has not been challenged by its supporters -- said in part, "The course this year has included, in the first two sessions, films explicitly showing men and women masturbating, and homosexual men and women having oral sex; an overview of masturbation, including methods and proposed benefits; a personal testimony by one of the faculty presenters explaining why he feels the church teaching on homosexuality is not the true Christian position; and a separate story involving how he feels church teaching on masturbation is also flawed."
On the committee that will screen the videos in the future and decide whether they are appropriate, Loyola's provost said, will be the assistant provost, the vice president for student development and the director of campus ministry, who is a priest.