A law professor at the University of Pittsburgh has apologized after giving a controversial assignment that involved students coming up with a rape scenario.
TikTok user and Pitt student Peyton Gualtieri (@peytgual) took to the social media platform last week to describe what she called an “insane” assignment.
She says the assignment is part of her Deviance and the Law class.
“You are to create your own fact scenario of an encounter between a man and a woman that ends in a rape,” Gualtieri said, reading the assignment in a video that has amassed over 1.3 million views on TikTok.
She goes on to say the assignment calls for students to describe the man and woman’s traits using descriptive detail.
They also need to describe what the man and woman were doing together and separately at an event along with their conversations and interactions and why the man believed it was okay for him to have sex with the female.
They then have to answer four questions including one that bothered Gualtieri, “One part of rape culture surrounds teaching women how not to be raped rather than for men to be taught not to rape, suggest two ways on how men should be taught not to rape,” the question reads.
“What, like actually what?” a puzzled Gualtieri said.
A day later, Gualtieri says she contacted the dean of the school and received a response quickly, posting that on TikTok as well
The professor also apologized for the assignment, saying she has used it in the past, “and it led to engaged, interactive discussion and learnings by previous students.”
The professor also changed the assignment and clarified that she wasn’t expecting students to describe the rape itself but more about how victims can be mistreated because of what they are wearing, where they are, what time it is.
The professor also says the syllabus for the class indicates that violent crime is covered in the class and that “some of this material can be disturbing,” and to contact her with any questions.
Gualtieri says she is “satisfied” with the apology but believes the whole situation could’ve been avoided if the professor had been clearer when giving out the assignment.
The university describes the course on its website as follows: This course will examine the concept of deviant behavior and how departing from socially acceptable norms in legal, social and institutional settings sparks certain emotional reactions from those who encounter or experience it. The course will also, identify what is deviancy, types of deviant behavior, who engages in it, what causes it and how in certain circumstances it violates the law by considering the characteristics of the deviant person from both a socio-cultural and historical perspective. In addition, it will outline various theories to deviant behavior.