According to preliminary results from the Marquette Student Government Fall 2013 Student Gender and Sexuality Survey, only a select group of informed students have an opinion on the FemSex workshop. FemSex, a student-led workshop that focuses on female sexuality and reproduction, was deemed by the university to be inconsistent with Marquette’s Catholic mission.

Marquette first revoked sponsorship of FemSex in February 2013. Apparently the revocation wasn’t clear enough, as the university had to instruct the Honors Program to pull sponsorship again in September.

According to a Nov. 12 Tribune article, the university found many problems with the program including the language it used, citing some as misogynistic. This explanation never specified what in the FemSex syllabus was misogynistic or contrary to Marquette’s mission. Also, Claire Van Fossen, one of the founding members of FemSex at Marquette, said in a submission to the Tribune earlier this year neither she nor any other FemSex members were included in the decision making process.

MUSG’s survey asked students if they had heard about the FemSex program. An overwhelming 72 percent said “no.” Of the 28 percent who did hear about the program, 50 percent believed “Marquette has (not) been transparent and forthcoming with information related to the decision to not sponsor FemSex.” About 19 percent believed it was transparent, and 31 percent said there was not enough information to answer “yes” or “no.”

Of the past four surveys administered by MUSG, the Gender and Sexuality Survey recorded the most respondents. During the two weeks the survey was administered, MUSG surveyed a total of 977 students. The next highest number of survey responses was in spring 2012, when MUSG surveyed 389 students about campus dining. By reaching out to a larger portion of the student body, MUSG displayed its commitment to being a legitimate, representative voice for the student body.

Taking these results into consideration, it seems as a whole, students did not know or did not care about the debate over FemSex. Of those who were aware, a majority of students believed Marquette could have been more transparent and did not have the right to revoke sponsorship of the program.

MUSG should not debunk the issue based on these results. While it may appear that students do not care about FemSex, the data shows that certain portions of the study body do care.

Religious affiliation of the respondents produced varied results: 29 percent of Catholics, 22 percent of other Christian groups, 25 percent of those from other world religions, 10 percent of those without religious affiliation and 22 percent of those who preferred not to respond agreed with the university decision.

The largest difference was among those without religious affiliation –  80 percent disagreed with the decision. The next-highest disagreement rating was among those who preferred not to identify their religious affiliation, at 56 percent disagreement, followed by those from other world religions at 50 percent. Although the number of respondents belonging to some of these religious groups is small, religious affiliation clearly plays a role.

This editorial is not an effort to pass judgment about the university’s decision to revoke sponsorship of FemSex; rather, it is a call for the university to remain transparent and open about its decision.

The best way to achieve this would be for MUSG to pass legislation, using the survey data, recommending university administration have an open discussion about its decisions regarding FemSex.