All over El Paso, UTEP and EPCC students are facing finals.  You guys can relax about one thing though, at least you get to wear clothes.

Students enrolled in a University Of California, San Diego visual arts class have been told to strip or fail by instructor Ricardo Dominguez. Dominguez, who has taught this particular course for 11 years, says he wants students to connect with their "erotic self" because the naked body is "the standard canvas for performance and body art."

Dominguez himself strips down during these exams, held in a room lit only by candlelight. He added:

“It is all very controlled. If they are uncomfortable with this gesture, they should not take the class.”

The course syllabus says "students must perform “a gesture that traces, outlines or speaks about your ‘erotic self(s)'” as part of the lesson. This particular course is required if students want to continue on to further visual arts classes. Needless to say, not everyone is happy about this. One parent found the situation sickening:

“It’s wrong. This is a memory my daughter’s going to carry with her for the rest of her life. To blanketly say ‘You must be naked’ in order to pass my class, it makes me sick to my stomach.”

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