Debate Over Sex Education After Cornell Incident
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What happened
Cornell University banned fraternity parties. University professor Jonathan Zimmerman then argued that collegiate sexual assault prevention programs are insufficient and that middle and high schools should provide comprehensive sex education addressing the influence of pornography. National Review published a critique of the ban under the headline “Cornell’s Frat-Party Ban Kicks the Keg Down the Road.”
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage never reports Cornell's frat-party ban, and right-leaning coverage never reports the call for middle- and high-school sex education that addresses pornography. Collegiate sexual-assault prevention programs are called insufficient only in The Hill, which follows professor Jonathan Zimmerman. The university's party restriction appears only in right-leaning coverage, where National Review says it "kicks the keg down the road." A reader who saw only one side would miss the other account of what failed after Cornell and what should replace it.
Left-leaning coverage asks schools to provide "comprehensive sex education." Right-leaning coverage says young people stay unprepared for sex and relationships while "the premises of the sexual revolution remain unexamined."
What exactly occurred in the Cornell incident, and would a party ban or earlier sex education have addressed it?
Bottom line
Read The Hill and Cornell is a sex-ed problem about pornography in middle school; read National Review and it is a frat-party ban that never questions the sexual revolution.
The receipts — 3 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Jonathan Zimmerman argues collegiate sexual assault prevention programs are insufficient
- Middle and high schools should provide comprehensive sex education that addresses the influence of pornography
- Young people remain unprepared for the realities of sex and relationships
The Left View
In The Hill, Zimmerman treats the Cornell episode as proof that waiting until college is too late. He argues that current collegiate sexual assault prevention programs are “insufficient” and calls for middle and high schools to deliver comprehensive sex education that addresses the influence of pornography.
The Right View
National Review frames the fraternity-party ban as kicking “the keg down the road.” It argues that as long as “the premises of the sexual revolution remain unexamined,” young people will remain “unprepared for the realities of sex and relationships,” so restricting parties does not substitute for that examination.
Our Take (balanced)
Zimmerman’s strongest argument is that college programs cannot make up for missing earlier, pornography-aware sex education. National Review’s strongest argument is that a party ban leaves untouched sexual-revolution premises that, in its telling, leave students unprepared regardless of venue. The central unresolved tension is whether the episode mainly shows a gap in the timing and content of sex education or a failure to scrutinize the cultural premises of the sexual revolution.
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