Jack Rappaport, La Salle University Professor, Suspended For Bringing Strippers To Class

We're sure it can be confusing to illustrate to students how Platonic and Hegelian ethics can be applied to business. But La Salle University professor Jack Rappoport to the task to a new level by by hiring strippers to give him and his students lap dances in class.

The Philadelphia City Paper has more:

For a $150 admission fee, students earned credit in the College of Professional and Continuing Studies, as well as extra credit in the professor's School of Business classes. The symposium's subject, the students say, was the application of Platonic and Hegelian ethics to business.

As part of the lesson, they say, three dancers, dressed in bikinis and/or miniskirts and high heels, had already arrived when the approximately 30 students (two of whom were female) entered the classroom. During the course of the presentation, lap dances were administered to willing students -- and even Rappaport -- while he lectured.

The strippers were "doing their normal job," as one student put it.

About 45 minutes in, the lecture was broken up by Paul Brazina, dean of the business school. The university then launched "full scale investigation" into the incident and Rappaport was suspended.

Rappaport has a history of blending extracurricular interests with his academic subject matter. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

On the website RateMyProfessors.com, students described him as everything from "great instructor" to an "easy A," with one student remarking in a review from 2004:

"Extremely strange man. Loves gambling, horse racing, and strip joints. Talks about all of the above all the time.

It remains unclear how, exactly, the strippers were supposed to illustrate Platonic and Hegelian ethics. If you have a guess, let us know in the comments section.

Comments

[dbrett480]

05:39 PM on 04/14/2011

Nothing surprises me anymore in the field of academia. There is even a former FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive teaching at UC Santa Cruz.

[onionboy]

07:49 PM on 04/13/2011

This is practical. Sadly, this is how many business deals are made...and Olympic cities are chosen.

[fratricide08]

04:57 AM on 04/14/2011

Yep.

[James McGill]

03:23 PM on 04/13/2011

The article calls them "strippers" but does not claim that they "stripped." My opinion on this story changes dramatically depending on whether and to what extent these "strippers" stripped. In fact, if they did not strip, I will not even agree with the premise that they are "strippers."

[rclewis1]

03:03 PM on 04/13/2011

Infinitely more interesting the Ward Chamberlin's messages.

[rclewis1]

03:01 PM on 04/13/2011

Clearly he was illustrating Capitalism, Value of Specialization Labor Wage Maximization, Marketing and Customer Satisfaction in expanding Client market for established products, and alternatives to electronic media for gathering prospects and presenting a corporate message.

Great creativity on the part of this business prof.....wish my German Econ Statistics Prof has his ideas.....slept during most of THAT class!!

[SeptimusDSX]

08:49 AM on 04/13/2011

Did he explain what the objective was? Seems a bit random to me. In any case, he may have violated university policies regarding sexual harassment. If so, the university is within its rights to fire him. They may do so for liability concerns. Personally, I think it is just a gimmick.

[Mohan Arun]

04:34 AM on 04/18/2011

He should have told the students beforehand that there will be strippers in class the next day. I dont see anything wrong with the episode per se, only that he didnt tell them before the event was scheduled to happen. Then, those who had objections as to attending a stripping session, can choose to stay out of class. As for me though, if I had been in that class, I believe I would have enjoyed it though.

[leorangerie]

02:29 AM on 04/13/2011

A professor can bring a concealed weapon to class, but not a stripper. O, America, where for art thou?

[realpragmatist]

01:10 AM on 04/13/2011

Forget rejection at Harvard.

Where is La Salle university? I want to take this class.

[Sarazzara]

04:49 PM on 04/14/2011

Right outside of Philadelphia.

[O K Ali]

12:54 AM on 04/13/2011

Smoking Charlie Sheen may lead to examples of #winning, or not.

[statementOfIncensed]

11:48 PM on 04/12/2011

Explanation= he's a Professor in the School of Business.

[CountSnail]

09:55 PM on 04/12/2011

As a student currently attending LaSalle, I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

[athenalong]

02:38 AM on 04/13/2011

So what's the scoop, Count?

[CountSnail]

05:52 PM on 04/13/2011

I heard about this 3 weeks ago. I knew it was only a matter of time before the media got wind of what had happened.

[WongChin]

09:21 PM on 04/12/2011

Any honest prof. would tell you that it is a big challenge these days to keep students' attention for more than ten minutes at a time.

Dude deserves to win a teaching award for thinking out of the box and getting students engaged. As long as the students are of majority age, knew in advance what was going to happen, and were willing.

My real ETHICAL concern -- and why I would fire the prof. -- is offering extra credit for such a class/lecture. Does it mean that a student loses the credit because they are not disposed for whatever reason to partake in what would make a good number of people uncomfortable, to say the least?

The extra credit aspect seems to remove the participation of the students from the province of volition.

It just goes to illustrate the rampant abuse of extra credits.

[mgutjr]

10:10 PM on 04/12/2011

thinking out of the box? hahaha

[MMRDO]

09:00 PM on 04/12/2011

This guy would be worshiped at Maritime...

[mansterEZ]

08:31 PM on 04/12/2011

I attended some classes with girls who were strippers in their spare time. I found them to be smart confident conservatives with strong opinions.

[thewirah]

08:21 PM on 04/12/2011

Aren't you supposed to throw moral out the door to succeed in business? Maybe that's the message that this professor was trying to convey.