A Tennessee university chaplain was slammed for trying to organize a “BDSM 101” workshop for students, complete with a chance to ask questions of a local dominatrix.
The Rev. Beatrix Weil is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church and chaplain of Rhodes College in Memphis.
Rhodes, a private liberal arts college historically associated with the Presbyterian faith, is home to approximately 2,000 students. Weil works as a faith counselor for multiple faiths on campus.
The chaplain – who organizes many events that attempt to combine faith with progressive social and racial politics – released a flyer promoting the BDSM-themed event.
“Chaplain Beatrix will host a local dominatrix to share wisdom on how to learn about bondage, discipline/domination, sadism/submission, and masochism safely, healthily, and consensually,” it reads.
Rev. Beatrix Weil is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church and chaplain of Rhodes College in Memphis
“Chaplain Beatrix will host a local dominatrix to share wisdom on how to learn about bondage, discipline/domination, sadism/submission, and masochism safely, healthily, and consensually,” the invite said.
BDSM is an acronym for a combination of sex with bondage and discipline, dominance and submission and sadism and masochism.
According to National Reviewdays earlier, Weil had held a seminar titled “Let’s Talk About Sex” with the same dominatrix.
Conservative host Todd Starnes wrote critically about the event Newsmaxand called it part of a culture change in Rhodes, making it the “Berkley of the South.”
“There is no doubt that Rhodes College is Presbyterian in name only, but they have certainly mastered the doctrine of total depravity,” he wrote, noting that donors were considering withdrawing their funding.
In a statement on November 10, the school announced that the event would not take place.
“The proposed event was canceled on Friday as soon as it came to our attention,” a spokesperson for Rhodes said.
“The event was not vetted through the proper approval channels. No such event is planned on our campus. We recognize that we need to do some work on our event approval processes, so we are reviewing this and will make changes as necessary.”
A student who helped plan the seminar, he spoke to anonymously the commercial professionsaid there was no damage from the event.
Rhodes, a private liberal arts college historically associated with the Presbyterian faith, is home to approximately 2,000 students. Weil works as a faith counselor for multiple faiths on campus
The chaplain — who organizes many events that attempt to combine faith with progressive social and racial politics — was scheduled to hold the seminar
A senior who helped Weil plan the event believes that if she had to face repercussions or even be fired for trying to hold the event, she would have the support of the student population.
“I just don’t understand what the big deal is,” she said. “We’re all adults, this is a college campus. It should be a place where you can make contact and learn new things.’
However, Mike Edwards, a class of 1979 Rhodes alum, thought it was a silly idea, especially on school grounds.
“It doesn’t really matter that the workshop took place, even though that seems way outside the norm of what we, as adults, would normally say was appropriate,” he said.
‘In reality it is a chaplain, from the school, on the school grounds.’
The senior who helped Weil plan the event believes that if she had to face repercussions or even be fired for trying to hold the event, she would have the support of the student population.
“There would be a huge outcry,” the senior said. “Actually, she is probably the most beloved faculty member on the Rhodes campus.”
Weil has not yet publicly commented on the controversy.