Coitus Interruptus Strikes Hundreds

Sex was unusually exciting yesterday.

A group of at least six male students sang, shouted or disrobed yesterday afternoon in Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology Irven DeVore and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Marc D. Hauser's Science B-29: "Human Behavioral Biology."

"For the first seven or eight minutes, it was really a three-ring circus," said an irritated DeVore.

Before lecture started, one man walked the aisles, offering non-alcoholic beer like a stadium vendor. Later, three other students wearing water polo caps and bathrobes walked down one aisle, across the front of the hall and up the other aisle, all the while yelling, "Water polo!"

The worst was yet to come.

"One guy went down the aisles saying 'Joe, your mother's on the phone.... She found your G.I. Joe. Don't worry, he's still in mint condition, but you've got to call her ASAP,'" said Daniel L. Cohen '97, the video-tape operator for the class.

After DeVore started lecturing, a student in the front stood up to ask about the course's difficulty, waving a CUE Guide and challenging the course's 2.8 difficulty rating.

Another opened an umbrella in the second row and was asked by the professor to close it because it obstructed the vision of those behind him. The student refused to do so until DeVore turned the lights down at the student's request.

About halfway through the class, two students sitting in separate areas of the lecture hall took off their shirts at an apparently predetermined time.

DeVore, noting that last year's first lecture was disrupted by a "mentally disturbed street person who looked like an older student," said he had initially thought yesterday's incident was more of the same.

"[I've had] maybe one disruption in the past, but nothing like this three-ring circus," said DeVore.

Cohen, though, said he didn't mind.

"This is nothing," Cohen said. "Last year I was showing a film for one of the astronomy classes.... There were chickens clucking in the front row."

"I thought [today's disturbance] was kinda dumb, but the professor's comebacks were pretty funny," Cohen said.

DeVore said he thought he had been singled out.

"I was told my course was chosen because Marc Hauser and I are 'cool profs' with a big class," DeVore said. "So clearly what I have to do is become less cool and more punitive in the future."

DeVore said that although he did not know for certain whether or not the students were final club members, he "[couldn't] imagine anyone else acting so idiotically."

Students reported that DeVore put up with the ruckus for a while, but then became annoyed.

"The professor answered their questions, but then he started to get a little mad," Etienne S. Benson '99 said. "He asked one of the guys with the umbrella to put it down."

When one group of students began singing "Rocky Mountain High," DeVore responded, "Well, somebody's high," according to those present.

The professor said that despite the commotion, he was able to get through most of his planned lecture.

"Throughout the term, Marc and I always accommodated requests by legitimate groups. What made me angry was that this was a group who could not sing...that it was merely part of initiation," said DeVore.

"The downside is that this makes me less approachable [to requests] by legitimate groups. My nose isn't particularly out of joint, but such antics put me on guard," he said.

Near the end of the lecture, the performing students left the lecture in staggered groups and met at the second floor of the Science Center.

When class ended, they walked through the crowd in "Omega Mu" T-shirts, holding candles and singing a song from "Revenge of the Nerds."

Fliers in Loker

In what may be a related incident, a few male students distributing fliers around Memorial Hall were asked to leave the Annenberg Dining Hall and then Loker Commons.

One of the participants, Owen J. Leary '96, said that he and two other students were, in fact, promoting a breakdancing exhibition.

The fliers consisted of four pictures of the dancers, termed "the dopest, freshest, jivin' homeboy boogaloo breakin' cats around." The fliers also invited students to attend their demonstration at Loker Commons.

Leary said his group was not involved with what went on in Science B-29 but was simply attempting to distribute flyers.

Another dancer, Douglas T. Crofton '98, agreed, saying their dancing "didn't have to do with a [finals] club" or "a specific athletic team."

The three breakdancers are members of the A.D. Club, which is currently initiating new members.

Edward H. Chen '98 said one of the students passing out fliers told him to go to DeVore's class if he had nothing else to do.

Leary said he felt the administration was inhibiting free speech in banning the distribution of fliers at Annenberg.

"The First Amendment allows us to," said Leary. "We were told we couldn't hand them out, that they had to be signed by the dean.

DeVore said he thought he had been singled out.

"I was told my course was chosen because Marc Hauser and I are 'cool profs' with a big class," DeVore said. "So clearly what I have to do is become less cool and more punitive in the future."

DeVore said that although he did not know for certain whether or not the students were final club members, he "[couldn't] imagine anyone else acting so idiotically."

Students reported that DeVore put up with the ruckus for a while, but then became annoyed.

"The professor answered their questions, but then he started to get a little mad," Etienne S. Benson '99 said. "He asked one of the guys with the umbrella to put it down."

When one group of students began singing "Rocky Mountain High," DeVore responded, "Well, somebody's high," according to those present.

The professor said that despite the commotion, he was able to get through most of his planned lecture.

"Throughout the term, Marc and I always accommodated requests by legitimate groups. What made me angry was that this was a group who could not sing...that it was merely part of initiation," said DeVore.

"The downside is that this makes me less approachable [to requests] by legitimate groups. My nose isn't particularly out of joint, but such antics put me on guard," he said.

Near the end of the lecture, the performing students left the lecture in staggered groups and met at the second floor of the Science Center.

When class ended, they walked through the crowd in "Omega Mu" T-shirts, holding candles and singing a song from "Revenge of the Nerds."

Fliers in Loker

In what may be a related incident, a few male students distributing fliers around Memorial Hall were asked to leave the Annenberg Dining Hall and then Loker Commons.

One of the participants, Owen J. Leary '96, said that he and two other students were, in fact, promoting a breakdancing exhibition.

The fliers consisted of four pictures of the dancers, termed "the dopest, freshest, jivin' homeboy boogaloo breakin' cats around." The fliers also invited students to attend their demonstration at Loker Commons.

Leary said his group was not involved with what went on in Science B-29 but was simply attempting to distribute flyers.

Another dancer, Douglas T. Crofton '98, agreed, saying their dancing "didn't have to do with a [finals] club" or "a specific athletic team."

The three breakdancers are members of the A.D. Club, which is currently initiating new members.

Edward H. Chen '98 said one of the students passing out fliers told him to go to DeVore's class if he had nothing else to do.

Leary said he felt the administration was inhibiting free speech in banning the distribution of fliers at Annenberg.

"The First Amendment allows us to," said Leary. "We were told we couldn't hand them out, that they had to be signed by the dean.