Iowa State, as well as countless other universities have not only sanctioned and encouraged BDSM activities, they have also built long-standing traditions around them. So also have high schools and colleges in the U.S. Surely BDSM enthusiasts will never inflict as much injury upon each other as do those who willingly participate in such traditional contact sports such as football and basketball. Some athletes have even aspired to be dominated as we know from the recruiting successes of Bobby Knight and the late Woody Hayes. But contact sport participants willingly sacrifice themselves without any hope of achieving sexual highs or orgasmic ecstasies as part of their activities. Perhaps Iowa State should revisit the question of who is rational here, and who is not. John W. Patterson

Professor emeritus

Materials science and engineering