After strong backlash, the Union Activities Board at North Carolina State University is scaling back its "Dirty Bingo Night" scheduled for Tuesday, the prizes for which originally were to include sex toys, lubricant and a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey as some of the prizes.
"Dirty Bingo Night" was just one of a series of Valentine's Day-themed events sponsored by the NCSU Union Activities Board happening this week at the Raleigh, N.C., campus.
According to UAB president Lauryn Collier, the event was planned to include prizes like edible undergarments, a Fifty Shades of Grey book and game, six vibrators, four so-called surprise packs, three dildos, a toy cleaner, lube, a sex game, a book on sexual positions and an anal plug. Collier said the UAB wanted to "find an innovative and entertaining way to talk about sex and sex education, particularly on a college campus, which deviates the norm and expected."
The cost of items purchased for the event came to a grand total of $304.69, the Technician reports. Some students at NCSU were outraged their fee money was going to be spent on such provocative items. They began organizing a protest of sorts, expressing their intention to show up Tuesday and voice their "firm disapproval" of the event, according to a Facebook event invite.
"The fact that a public university is going to spend mandatory student fees on such an event is just repulsive,” Emma Benson, an NCSU student and state co-chair of Young Americans for Liberty told the conservative blog Campus Reform. "There is nothing that involves reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey' or using a butt plug that promotes safe sex."
None of the "Dirty Bingo Night" funding came from taxpayers. The UAB receives $15.13 per student each year to help fund student activities and, compared to other events on campus, the expense for "Dirty Bingo Night" is minimal. Collier told WTVD the total cost of the program's prizes amounts to one penny per student.
Still, event organizers are now going to ensure that student fees don't pay for any of the controversial prizes.
"We are currently in the process of securing funding from those entities to completely do away with student fees even remotely funding this event," Ryan Doggett, leisure and entertainment chair of the UAB, said on Facebook.
Doggett also said they'll have to scale back "Dirty Bingo Night" and not award prizes with a monetary value of more than $10 since they don't have a bingo license. They plan to find a way to give out the remaining prizes through another program.