Page 12 Thursday, November 1, 1984 The Capitol Times
Colleges snub p
(CPS) -- Several campuses
once again have opted to ap
prove using campus funds and
facilities to run pornographic
movies during the last month.
Most recently, University of
Virginia President Frank
Hereford refused a National
Organization for Women
(NOW) invitation to view the
movie "Deep Throat."
NOW wanted to enlist
Hereford's support in banning
the film from UV, where it was
shown as a fundraiser for the
Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity two
weeks ago.
Hereford, in a letter to Cyn
thia Taylor, president of the
Charlottesvillle, Va., NOW
chapter, said that while he
"personally abhors this kind of
thing," he feared banning the
film would violate the First
Amendment to the U.S. Con
stitution, Taylor reports.
Also fearing it'd quash free
speech, an Indiana University
dorm student government last
week approved a motion to let
students keep showing X-rated
movies in the dorm.
The week before, 25 Univer
sity of lowa protestors tried to
disrupt a campus showing of a
movie called "Peeping Tom."
The anti-pornography forces
have won a few times as well.
The manager of a University of
Texas at El Paso campus pub
recently ordered the pub's pay
TV channel turned off at 10
p.m., when SelecTV switches to
blue movie programming.
And soon after the Indiana
dorm council approved show
ing pornography, the campus
wide Indiana University Stu
dent Association passed a
resolution condemning por
nography and offering to work
with the dean of students to
teach students "about the ef
fects of pornography on our
society."
Generally, however, students
and administrators reluctantly
go along with the screenings,
which are usually staged by
fraternities or campus film
societies.
"This situation," observes
William Fishback, an aide to
Hereford at Virginia, "is not a
winner in any respect."
Classified
Earn up to $BO per month. Donate
plasma at Sera-Tec Biologicals, 260
Reily Street, Harrisburg. Open 8
a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mon - Fri
232-1906
Is it true you can buy jeeps for $44
through the U.S. government? Get
the facts today! Call
1-312-742-1142 Ext. 3501
ADDS Computer terminal for sale.
Operate on PSU computer system
from your home or dorm room.
$290 or best offer. Modem not in
cluded. Contact S. Folland -
948-6056
Fishback says Hereford
finally decided that "we're talk
ing about an issue of freedom
here. We will not ban movies
because this could lead to book
burnings and such."
"This is a very complex issue
of values," NOW's Taylor
replies. "Hereford claims the
school won't do anything that
is against community stan
dards, but in Charlottesville,
this is against community stan
dards."
She maintains "the cost of
human dignity is too great to
show this type of film on public
grounds of a state school,
especially as a fundraiser."
Taylor also sees the issue as
"the last bastion of men against
women at a university."
The courts, however, have
been quick to rule against those
who would ban movies, books
or other forms of popular
culture.
In a May, 1983 landmark
case, a Michigan federal judge
forced Grand Valley State Col-
orno flicks
lefe administrators to pay the
$250 rental fee for an X-rated
film a student group wanted to
show.
The college routinely had
paid film rental fees in the past,
but didn't want to fund a por
nographic film.
Even student groups have
shied away from outright ban
nings. In the last six months,
student politicians at Penn,
Hawaii, Arizona State and even
Virginia rejected measures that
would have barred X-rated
Hoping to steer a middle
course, the Cal-Santa Barbara
student government in 1983
voted to allow showing por
nographic films, but to require
they be preceded by a 10--
minute educational program on
the subject.
Private Marquette Universi
ty last fall banned "Porky's"
because it included "excessive
sex" and "Monty Python's The
Meaning Of Life"because it
was "anti-Catholic."