Student’s mother says ‘It makes me sick to my stomach’ after Ricardo Dominguez required the class to be naked for the final part of the course

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A college professor has been criticised after insisting his students take an end-of-year exam in the nude.

Ricardo Dominguez, who teaches a visual arts class at the University of California at San Diego, required the students to be naked for the final part of the course.

The professor also disrobed for the exam, which involved students participating in a “series of gestures”, according to the local Fox 13 television channel.

The unconventional assessment came to light after the mother of one of the students complained about the nakedness.

“It bothers me. I’m not sending her to school for this,” the parent, who asked not to be named, told 10 News.

“To blanket say ‘You must be naked in order to pass my class’ … It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Dominguez said the students had been made aware at the beginning of the course that they would need to be stark naked for the final examination. The class is titled “Performing the Self” and has been taught by Dominguez for 11 years.

The aggrieved mother, who asked 10 News not to reveal her name, said her daughter had not been informed about the bare examination.

“Nothing was ever explained, nothing was ever stipulated prior to Thursday,” she said.

Dominguez said he had never received a complaint during his time teaching the class. He said the class took place in a darkened room, lit by candlelight.

“At the very end of the class, we’ve done several gestures, they have to [do a] nude gesture. The prompt is to speak about or do a gesture or create an installation that says: ‘What is more you than you are,’” Dominguez said.

“If they are uncomfortable with this gesture they should not take the class,” he added.

The chair of the visual arts department, Dr Jordan Crandall, said “the concerns of our students are our department’s first priority”.

Crandall appeared to contradict Dominguez regarding the necessity of the nudity.

“Removing your clothes is not required in this class. The course is not required for graduation,” he said.

“There are many ways to perform nudity or nakedness – summoning art history conventions of the nude or laying bare of one’s ‘traumatic’ or most fragile and vulnerable self. One can ‘be’ nude while being covered.”