Lap-Dancing Strippers: Philly Prof. Allegedly Taught Ethics Class Using Exotic Dancers

Is this what they mean by a hands-on education?

A professor at a branch of La Salle University -- a Catholic Christian school -- in Pennsylvania is under investigation after it was reported he invited strippers on campus and into a class -- strippers who then gave some students, and even the professor, lap dances.

The "class" was an extra credit symposium on business ethics that cost students an extra $150 a piece. School officials have acknowledged the accusations and launched an investigation.

The Philadelphia City Paper gives the details of what happened in the class hosted by Prof. Jack Rappaport:

According to the students, the symposium, hosted at a satellite campus facility in Plymouth Meeting, was held by La Salle assistant professor of management Jack Rappaport. For a $150 admission fee, students earned credit in the College of Professional and Continuing Studies, as well as extra credit in the professor's School of Business classes. The symposium's subject, the students say, was the application of Platonic and Hegelian ethics to business.

As part of the lesson, they say, three dancers, dressed in bikinis and/or miniskirts and high heels, had already arrived when the approximately 30 students (two of whom were female) entered the classroom. During the course of the presentation, lap dances were administered to willing students — and even Rappaport — while he lectured.

The strippers were "doing their normal job," as one student put it.

One student described the scene to local station WPVI-TV. "I don't know, just kind of laying on top of him. Not laying on top of him but straddling him. It was like a lap dance you could say," said sophomore Brad Bernardino.

WPVI covered the incident, which occurred last month but is just now coming to light:

The class was apparently shut down when the business dean happened to walk by and see what was going on. City Paper details some of Rappaport's credentials:

According to a curriculum vitae posted on La Salle's website, Rappaport has a Master's Degree from New York University and has taught at La Salle for 22 years. Students describe his teaching style as unconventional — several students noted trips to a race track in past classes as part of a lesson in real-life statistics.

Students told the Paper that Rappaport's classes are currently being taught by substitutes, suggesting he may have been put on leave.

In the end, it's unclear what strippers and lap dances had to do with business ethics. Rappaport declined to comment to WPVI, saying he could not do so until the investigation concluded.

"I don't think bringing in strippers is like right for a Catholic Christian school," freshman Rachel Sweeney told WPVI.

That may be an understatement.