The Sexual Rebel: Leo Koch

Abstract

Koch was an assistant professor of biology and author of a letter to the student newspaper condoning premarital sexual intercourse and cohabitation for sufficiently mature university students. Parents, community leaders, and Illinois newspapers strongly condemned him and called for his firing. A faculty committee quickly recommended dismissal, which President Henry approved. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Illinois students, and many faculty, both at Illinois and across the nation, came to Koch’s defense, to no avail. The case was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the firing stood.