A monthlong series of lectures and events celebrating feminist history at the State University of New York in Oswego will feature a workshop on “the joys of sex toys.”

A trustee of the state college system, Candace de Russy, said she was dismayed at the announcement by the college’s Women’s Center.

The event is funded entirely by a mandatory student activities fee that is regulated by a student-run association, a spokeswoman for the university, Julie Harrison Blissert, said. The university doesn’t interfere with Student Association programming and isn’t taking a stand on whether the event is appropriate, Ms. Blissert said.

“These feminist ideologues never tire, in the name of academic freedom and scholarship, of squandering students’ minds and taxpayers’ money,” the trustee, Ms. de Russy, said. She was a vocal opponent of state funds being used to support similar events at SUNY-New Paltz in 1997, where a women’s studies conference featured events about sex toys. Governor Pataki said at the time that the use of state money for the events was “outrageous.”

The sex educator who will give the presentation works for Toys in Babeland, a sex toy shop chain with locations in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York.The shop does about 70 events a year at New York universities, community centers, and bachelorette parties, said Carolyn Riccardi, the shop’s education coordinator for New York.

The evening discussion, which is part of the center’s celebration of Herstory month, “will lead participants on a tour of toys along with tips and techniques, and explain how you use toys of all kinds to enhance your sex life,” according to an e-mailed calendar of events for Herstory month issued by the SUNY Oswego women’s center. The e-mail says, “The presentation will review vibrators, dildos and harnesses, anal toys, sensation toys, porn and erotica.”

The student who leads the organization that coordinates how much money each student group receives, Ian Farrell, said he didn’t see any reason for outrage. “It’s not your conventional education program, but if students don’t want to attend they don’t have to,” Mr. Farrell, a fifth-year senior studying political science said. He said $7,000 was allocated for the entire roster of Herstory month events.

A contributor to “Modern Sex: Liberation and Its Discontents” and fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Kay Hymowitz, said students don’t need more interaction with sex toys. “What they really need is a way to talk about sex as more than fun and games,” she said. “They should be experiencing sex as a much more serious event in their lives.”