Hard Decisions Must be Made at University of Maryland
Pardon the pun (sorry but the link is blacklisted because it uses the word porn in it, however it is an AP wire story):
BALTIMORE - The University of Maryland, College Park, has canceled this weekend’s screening of a hard-core pornographic film after state lawmakers objected and threatened to cut funding to the flagship state university.
UM President C.D. Mote Jr. decided to cancel the screening of Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge, which was to be shown at the student union and had been approved by a student programming committee.
A behind-the-scenes negotiation between state Senate officials and the university ensued after a debate broke out Thursday on the chamber’s floor over the screening.
“That’s really not what Maryland residents send their young students to college campus for—to view pornography,” said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.
He acknowledged the legislature shouldn’t get involved in censoring movies, but said the General Assembly is not going to support the screening of hard-core pornographic movies on a state campus paid for by taxpayer dollars…
The 138-minute film, billed as a “XXX blockbuster” by its distributor, Digital Playground of Van Nuys, Calif., was the most expensive porn movie ever made, at $10 million. It was released in September 2008.
Christopher Ruth, a spokesman for Digital Playground, said he was disappointed and upset about the cancellation. He said at least five other universities, including Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon and the University of California, Los Angeles, had screened the film and none had canceled.
“Showing a movie like this opens up a discussion, a discourse on sexuality and gender roles, and for them to stifle that discourse from happening is amazing,” said Ruth.
The film was provided to the university free, so no student fees or state money was used. But some observers still questioned whether hard-core porn has a place on a college campus…
Adam Kissel, director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, based in Philadelphia, said the legislature was “far out of line” for threatening to withhold funding and said Mote’s apparent “capitulation” was “distressing.”
Obscene content is not necessarily protected under the U.S. Constitution, Kissel said, but the fact that the student union planned to have Planned Parenthood give a prescreening presentation on safe-sex practices before the film strengthens the First Amendment argument.
Planned Parenthood, which does not endorse pornography, had accepted the invitation as a way to educate students…
“We thought this would be something fun for the students to do, especially since we’re getting close to the end of the semester,” Cunningham said. “We’re a college movie theater and we thought it would bring out the students.”
WTF?
