Those who think that a college education does not prepare you for real life have not read the faculty guide for Georgia State University.

An uproar by many connected with the university and conservative politics as a whole were upset to see that Georgia State University lists in its 2009 media experts guide, faculty members who are knowledgeable about male prostitution and oral sex.

According to a Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, University System officials defended the faculty members, saying– “Our mission is defined as teaching, research and public service,” said John Millsaps, a spokesman for the state’s Board of Regents. “That encompasses a broad range of interest and expertise.”

Still criticism of these faculty members has continued to grow. Friday, several days after Rep. Calvin Hill (R-Canton) said he was “personally outraged” over the issue, a second member of the state House echoed his criticism, drawing applause from some colleagues.

Also Friday, Jim Beck, president of the Georgia Christian Coalition, said he wants legislative committee hearings to sift through the facts. “We are concerned,” he said, “if the initial reports are true.”

Donald Reitzes, chairman of Georgia State’s sociology department, said the critics of these experts are “misinformed” about the purpose and value of the research they are criticizing.

Kirk Elifson, who is listed as an expert on male prostitution, for example, began his study during the 1980s to examine the spread of AIDS, Reitzes said. Elifson was the lead author of a 1989 New England Journal of Medicine article on HIV among male prostitutes.

Mindy Stombler, a senior lecturer at Georgia State for whom oral sex is listed as an area of academic expertise, said she is conducting a limited study on the societal messages that teenagers receive about oral sex. She looks at anything from news reports about the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the lyrics of popular rap music.

She said she expects the findings to be used in public health campaigns to help prevent the spread of diseases through oral sex.

Seth Harp (R-Midland), chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, had planned to have several Georgia State officials and instructors speak to his committee last week about the controversy. That meeting was canceled, but Harp said Friday that he hoped to reschedule soon.