Some students in Women’s Studies 345/English 345 were shocked when they were told on the first day of class that the topic had been changed from 20th Century Women’s Literature to Women Identified/Lesbian Literature.

After the introduction by Kathy Hickok, associate professor of English, five or six students elected to walk out of the class.

“I thought I would be reading books about great American women,” said Mandy Rutter, senior in sociology. “I thought it would be more of a contemporary class about women who made a difference.”

Rutter said she watched a full section decrease to less than 30 students before the syllabus was distributed.

“Basically, the first words out of [the instructor’s] mouth were, ‘This is going to come as a surprise to some of you. You signed up for [20th Century] Women’s Literature, but now you’re in Lesbian Literature,'” Rutter said.

“There was dead silence in the room until some of the girls started giggling,” Rutter said.

Hickok then offered students the option to drop or leave the class.

“The Regents ask for us to tell students about controversial or sexual content up front,” Hickok said. “I apologized to students [about the confusion] and said that I would not be offended if they left.”

The students who elected to leave did so politely, without causing a scene.

“It was interesting because nobody walked out until they were given permission by the professor,” said Christina Jens, senior in women’s studies and math and a student in the class. “No one walked out before [the announcement], and very few have walked since.”

The class topic was changed last spring when the previous instructor, Constance Post, went overseas. Hickok then took over the course and tried to inform students of the change.

“Fliers were sent to advisers, and I asked the women’s studies department to tell students about the change,” Hickok said. “It was also put in the English newsletter that goes out to English majors and minors.”

Linda Galyon, associate professor of English and former coordinator of the women’s studies program, said she was not aware of the topic change until sometime during the summer.

“The [English] department did not tell the [women’s studies] program what was going on,” Galyon said.

Galyon said the English department “owns” the course, and the only power the women’s studies program has over it is to remove the women’s studies cross-listing. However, she said she feels the course is important.

“The lack of any course dealing with lesbian culture was cited by most if not all of the finalists for the new director of women’s studies as one of the weaknesses in our program,” Galyon said.

She said the women’s studies program is introducing an experimental course on lesbian culture and communities in the spring.

“I see a need that English 345 is addressing … I can see why it was done,” Galyon said. “I’m sorry students are upset … they have every right to know what they are signing up for.”

Jens said she was informed of the change last semester when Hickok announced the new topic to her literature class at the time.

“I believe that students had the right to leave because it was an emotionally charged topic,” said Jens, who is also vice president of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Ally Alliance. “It is a shame that they left because diversity is good to know about.”

Jens and Angie Chipman, junior in psychology and education and a student in the class, agree that students would have noticed the format change if they had inspected the textbooks.

“If you know the books, then you would know that it was a lesbian literature class,” said Chipman, LGBTAA president. “The content was very different [from the original topic].”

Rutter said there were eight novels plus a textbook for the class, and that most of the books had covers with deeply erotic scenes.

Rutter said initially she wanted to stay in the class and go through it to “see what it was all about.” She said she changed her mind and dropped the course when she saw the textbooks.

“Basically, I felt there was going to be a lot of discussions, and I didn’t think I would be able to contribute much to it,” Rutter said. “The first day of class, students were going around introducing themselves as ‘gay and weird.’ What was I supposed to say? ‘Hi, I’m Mandy and I’m straight?'”

Rutter said her main concern is that the university is making it difficult for students to take the classes they want and trust the curriculum.

She said students are also worried about the availability of classes that could be substituted for the lesbian literature class.

“Fortunately, I was able to [get into another course] so I would stay on track to graduate in May,” Rutter said.

Rutter said she did not file any complaints with the administration or the departments, and she would consider taking a different women’s studies course at Iowa State. However, she said she feels it was unfair to students to change course topics.

“I was just so shocked,” she said.

Hickok said she has taught the class before with no problems.

“The course has been offered on and off since 1991,” she said.