Students seek sex in campus bathrooms
Anonymous sex seekers utilize university sponsored Web site; drill holes in bathroom stalls

Story by Seth R. Norman
Photos by Seth R. Norman and Ashley Rudmann
11:00 PM, 2/4/2003

A UC Berkeley-run Web site is being used by gay students to organize and engage in anonymous sex on campus--activities university police have been trying to crack down on for months.

The UC Berkeley Queer Alliance, which is funded by the university and runs its Web site off the university’s Web server, provides an online message board on which gay students discuss locations on campus where such illicit activities are pursued.

The students partake in anonymous sex in campus bathroom stalls, where they use “glory holes” to peer into the stall next door to see if it is occupied by a man interested in sex. If it is, the student will cross into the stall and engage with him sexually, usually without any mutual acquaintance.

“By mistake I have been in like Stephens (Hall) last year and there were these two hot guys f--king in there. I joined. It was hot!” wrote CALHEAT on the Web site. “Ever since then I go back every now and then. And to my surprise alls I find are nasty old f--ks who f--kin follow you.”

Messages on the board also advertise maps to the campus glory holes, which they say will be e-mailed to any interested students.
As many as 18 glory holes exist at various locations across campus, according to posts on the message board. Bathrooms allegedly containing glory holes include those in Wheeler and Barrows halls.

Police have received notice of glory holes on campus, and they usually respond by “trying to deconstruct” them, said UC police Capt. Bill Cooper.

“We have had complaints in years past about this sort of thing,” Cooper said. “Stuff about sexual activity and drill holes in the bathroom stalls on campus.”

Messages on the bulletin board report a sting operation by undercover police at some glory hole sites, but UC police detectives were unable to confirm those reports.

Students expressed incredulity upon learning that campus restrooms were being used for sex.

“It’s kind of scary,” said UC Berkeley junior Jitesh Zala. “Actually, it’s kind of sick. Well, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go, but I’ll probably avoid it from now on.”

Dean of Students Karen Kenney said she was not aware of the existence of glory holes. But she added the message board might be in conflict with the campus’s E-Berkeley Policy, which regulates sites run on the university’s server.
Kenney refused to comment further.

The E-Berkeley Policy states that all student organization Web sites run off the university’s server must be registered with the Office of Student Life, and consequently that they must comply with university policy.

The university’s Student Code of Conduct prohibits “conduct which threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person.” UC policy also forbids the damage or misuse of university property.

“In terms of having a Web site, groups are expected to comply with the policies of the university,” Kenney said.

But John Mendoza, co-chair of the UC Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex Association, described the Web site as “a great place for people to express themselves.”

“It’s a great portal to campus events,” he said. “As for the glory holes, it’s the person’s interest. It’s someone else’s thing, not mine.”

UCLGBTIA, a subcommittee of the alliance and the Queer Resource Center, also received university money for the controversial Queer Conference, held on campus February 2002.
The conference featured such workshop topics as: A New Generation of BDSM; Safer Sex: What to Know Before You Blow; Buzz Off: Sex Toys for All Genders; and Dykes Doin’ Photo.

Other workshops also provided guidance towards the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as analyses of the sociological condition of gays and the history of homosexuality.

Over $4,000 from the ASUC contingency fund, $2,500 from Vice Chancellor Genaro Padilla’s fund and $700 from the Office of UC President Richard Atkinson, along with $10,000 the center received for its annual budget from the ASUC went towards the conference’s funding, Mendoza said.

The university also provided office space in Cesar Chavez Student Center, office equipment and printing supplies, along with an advisor from the Office of Student Life whose primary project for the year was to assist with the convention, he added.

The Queer Resource Center, located in the Eshleman Hall front office for the UC Berkeley Queer Alliance, receives free office space and over $9,000 a year for activities from the student government. Numerous other queer-themed groups beneath the overarching Queer Council also receive monies totaling in the thousands.

By contrast, both the Cal Berkeley Democrats and Berkeley College Republicans received $4,500 from the ASUC for the 2001-2002 academic year, and the Campus Crusade for Christ received $200.

The ASUC financial bylaws do not prohibit the senate from allocating money to student groups or publications promoting activities that potentially endanger the health of students on campus.

The bylaws do, however, state that the senate is obligated to spend at least $2,000 per year for “health education and promotion,” including STD and HIV prevention.

Berkeley College Republicans Senator Paul LaFata said the ASUC should consider the health risks activities supported by organizations pose toward students in determining the funds those groups receive.

“We have nothing in our bylaws to prevent that and that’s unfortunate,” he said. “The ASUC probably ought to give more attention to these types of questions.”

But monitoring the Web site’s content might provide “very difficult legal questions” regarding the first amendment rights of the alliance, LaFata added.

“If anything, I hope we help UCPD their job,” he said.