After debunking the campusfood.com myth, the Sweeps Action News Team grew aimless and lost its sense of purpose. Then we found out about a sex club at NIU. Needless to say, it hit us like journalistic Viagra. SANT needed answers and jumped into action for this exclusive investigation. There was talk of going undercover, but that would have been excessively icky

During the last week of October, little slips of paper circulated around campus with only a Web address printed on them. They read “www.niusexclub.org” and nothing more. It soon became this generation’s “Rosebud” – a hauntingly enigmatic blurb but with the word sex in it, so therefore more important.

The slips of paper were part of a clever advertising scheme by the creator of the Web site, Alexander Collins, a senior double major in history and music.

The sex club, shockingly unaffiliated with NIU, aims to bring consenting students and faculty together for no-strings-attached sex. To join, all you have to do is post a profile and give an e-mail address.

Apparently, the first rule of the sex club is to talk about the sex club , because Collins eagerly shares details of his less-than-secretive organization.

“People are allowed to say whatever they want in their profile,” Collins said. “Different people get turned on by different things and I am not an authority to say what is acceptable sexual behavior and what isn’t.”

Collins does draw the lines when it comes to certain legal or ethical issues. He will not post anything meant to serve as an ad for commercial Web sites or sex workers. He also draws the line at anything that is just down-right illegal. Collins did express a tinge of disappointment concerning submitted profiles.

“I haven’t yet received any joke profiles,” Collins said. “This surprises me. I thought I would have at least received one profile that parodied my own.”

Perhaps in time. The site is still very young, having only been up since Oct. 26. Collins began the site after being repeatedly disappointed with other similar Web organizations.

“The idea of my site is not unique,” Collins said. “Sites like craigslist and adultfriendfinder provide forums that seek to accomplish similar goals. Unfortunately, those forums have somewhat become vehicles for sex workers and porn sites to advertise. I wanted to create a site that was free of such commercialism. I also think there is a undeniable value in localizing a site such as niusexclub.”

So far, the club has generated a fair share of buzz. A handful of people have already posted profiles (including – gasp – at least one girl) and many more have visited the site, which has generated more than 2,000 hits. Collins also has gotten a decent amount of feedback from people, both negative and positive.

“I personally have been called pathetic, sick, desperate and diseased. I’m not,” Collins said. “I’m not bothered by these negative messages. I know that those who write them are close-minded and square. Those negative responses are in the minority, however. Many people – faculty included – have e-mailed me and lent their support to the site.”

As far as Collins knows, the Website has yet to hook anyone up. This has not discouraged any of its members, though.

“I had a couple reasons for joining the site,” said David Dickey, an architectural drafting and design major at Kishwaukee College.

Collins said he hopes the Web site will continue to see growth.

“My divorce has basically left me stranded here in DeKalb with very few friends. I wanted to perhaps meet others and get to know them and possibly have fun.” Dickey said.

“The club is still young and growing,” Collins said. “We still have very few profiles and I’m sure we will never, sadly, have an equal ratio of men to women. I guess that’s Mars and Venus, though.”