Indiana University's Residential Programs and Services department sponsored a panel of bondage practitioners and advocates, led by student organizer Keith Potter, also known by his campus nickname, "Bondage Boy." Imploring the public to "give it a chance," Potter told the Indiana Daily Student, "After a while sex can get old. Rather than cut off the relationship, you might as well try new things." The panel introduced 150 students to practices such as burning a partner with hot wax, branding or puncturing skin with needles, using rope, chains, or leather to subdue or tease, and enhancing sexual arousal with whips or biting.

John Robinson, president of Headspace, a student group that promotes sadomasochism and bondage, touted S&M's religious benefits, contending that pain serves "as a method of transcendentalism" and allows participants "to either become a god or to become closer to their god." He added, "It is a tool that, properly used, can build trust." Potter maintained the workshop was "educational" and redressed historical discrimination against bondage practitioners, an assessment shared by the university's assistant chancellor for residential programs and services, Bruce Jacobs. Potter admitted Headspace often sponsors off-campus "dungeon parties" in which students are initiated into S&M or invited to watch, but stressed that parties always occur at non-alcoholic venues.

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