American biology teacher at the University of Illinois, Leo Koch was interested in bryology. Born in Dickinson, North Dakota, he moved to California where he studied at Petaluma High School, Santa Rosa Junior College and the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated with a BSc in agriculture in 1941. Koch studied and collected the mosses of California, publishing "Preliminary studies of California Mosses" in 1949 and "Mosses of California: An annotated list of species" in 1950. Completing his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan he entered the University of Illinois as an Assistant Professor in 1954. A liberalist and a humanist, Leo Koch is best remembered for speaking out against the social stigma attached to premarital sex, particularly with regards to university students, and for subsequently losing his job. In response to an article published in the Daily Illini in 1960, which criticised heavy petting parties on campus, he espoused his views that sexual intercourse among consenting adults should be condoned. The president of the University, D.D. Henry, had Koch fired and although he fought for several years under the banner of academic freedom and freedom of speech, neither the Illinois Supreme Court nor the Supreme Court of the United States would give him a hearing. In 1960 Koch also published an important paper on plant classification entitled “The subkingdoms of plants”. Koch had one daughter.
Sources:
J.R. Goddard, 1960, "Dr. Koch Seeks Reinstatement: Sex on Campus? 'You Can't Shrug Off Biological Needs'", Village Voice, 17 November 1960:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=L2oQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3osDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6469,308955&dq=leo-koch&hl=en, accessed 13 July 2011
Court refuses to hear appeal over dismissal, Ottawa Citizen, 30 May 1963:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f1QyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0uUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5238,4143844&dq=leo-koch&hl=en, accessed 13 July 2011
Dr. Leo Francis Koch (b. 08 February 1916, d. 14 November 1982):
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/i/n/Katherine-A-Minthorne/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0075.html, accessed 13 July 2011.
