Page 6 Thursday, February 14, 1985 The Capitol Times Campus Forum As a newspaper, we're rather fond of the First Amendment We take very seriously the guarantees of free speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble peaceably, and the right to petition government for a redress of grievances. But does free speeech have limits? It most certainly does., If we incite a mob to sack and pillage Capitol Campus, our free speech right to do so is less important than the govern ment's right to preserve order. The one area the courts haven't been able to straighten out is pornography. Supreme Court justices and their clerks have spent thousands of hours and the better part of a century try ing to define what is pornographic. After all that time, they still haven't done it. What is pornographic in Oklahoma may be just another movie in New York. To paraphrase one justice, you know pornography when you see it, but you can't define it. So how do you make it illegal? You can't. That doesn't, however, make pornography right, or good, or socially beneficial. It doesn't help discourage the abuse and subjugation of human beings. And of course, it doesn't recognize the natural right of people offended by such material to be free of exposure to its effects. So is pornography wrong and bad and socially harmful? Maybe. The law can't help in such situations, but people can. Those who oppose certain films, shows, or publications can make their displeasure known through peaceful demonstration, communication, letters to newspapers, and by not patroniz ing the offending event. Those in favor can turn over their cash and perpetuate the status quo. Both sides can discuss the situa tion intelligently, publicizing both their evidence and their opinions. We at the Capitol Times feel that the opposition from cer tain quarters over the planned showing of "Debbie Does Dallas" here is legitimate, but possibly over done. We would guess that the film will have only a marginal impact on the morals of its viewers compared with their experiences to date. If anything will suffer, it will be the campus' prestige, and there, too, the damage should be slight. Nevertheless, we respect the views of those who oppose the film on religious and other grounds. We think those who would justify anything--no matter what--on First Amendment grounds are being shortsighted and simplistic, just as those who would claim the right to control others' expression are going too far. Maybe the best way to deal with the situation is for SUBOG to voluntarily limit the frequency and publicity of such show ings, recognizing the divided opinion of the student body. The panel discussion that is to follow the movie is also a useful forum for those who wish to use it, although we think it was inappropriate for the administration to make the panel a con dition for showing the movie. We favor a more balanced schedule of popular, contem porary films on campus, not just cult films and classics. And we favor a healthy respect for the competing interests of free speech and morality. See you at the movies? Capitol Times Published by students of Penn State's Capitol Campus, Middletown, PA 17057 The Capitol Times welcomes letters from readers: Letters intended for publication must be signed by the author and indicate his/her club or organizational affiliation, if any. The Capitol Times reserves the right to edit or reject letters at its discretion. Letters published do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper or its staff. Neil Myers Editor-in-chief Don Strausburger..Managing Editor Tony Perry Contributing Editor Beverly Halbrook-Advertising Mgr. Jeffrey Keck Business Mgr. Lisa Mauss Production Mgr. Cathy Shaak Sales Rep. Gulnar Manji Sales Rep. Angelo Vecchio Sports Editor Mike Dudek 'Graphics Artist Janice Shatzer Composer Bob,Price Photographet Moiled si as IPapas bfkMlk4ows. Toadish* sponsimi by him*. Mislay, Thursday, February 14, 1985 Vol. 19 No. 9 Adviser - Mark S. Guralnick Contributing Staff Carman Amerson Annette Childs Jennette Dell'Alba Bill Eason Myra Fink Beth Horne Maria Kent Stacy Krnjaic Joseph L. Michaisky Ken Stiggers Rachel Vance PISION6 "lOU GUYS An LUCKY I DIDN'T CATCH YOU FISHING 011 SWIMMING; Porno flicks: still free speech By Mark S. Guralnick I am astonished by the cen sure of the movie, "Debbie Does Dallas," which is schedul ed to be shown Friday night at the Student Center. Who cares whether Debbie Does Dallas at Penn State for one night? It's being held in a student activities center, on a weekend night. No children are invited, and nobody is being forced to see it. To make a stink about one X- rated film being shown one time to an adult population, on a voluntary basis, is simply silly. What's astonishing, however, is that the students and administrators condemning the film have forgotten what the freedom of expression and academic freedom are all about. This is a public proper ty -- a state university. It's not the Archdiocese of Dauphin County, the American Legion Post, of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The morality of the film is irrele vant; this campus is not in the business of teaching sexual morality. And besides, what's moral to one person is immoral to another. For example, I think failing to maintain a nuclear generating station pro perly is immoral! A fictional film of an ex-cheerleader shar ing her body with athletes, businessmen and innumerable others is probably more stupid than immoral. But banning stOpOity is un constitutional too. Thiise chnners who think Danger9us Debbie will promote obscene behavior have no basis for their arguments. Almost 30 years ago, federal judge Jerome Frank said in U.S. v. Roth that "if the government possesses the power to censor (expres sions) which arouse sexual thoughts, regardless of whether those thoughts tend probably to transform themselves into anti social behavior, why may not the government censor political and religious publications regardless of any casual relation to probably dangerous deeds? As for those critics who would prefer to have X-rated movies approved first by an ad ministrative review board or a student standards commission, I call your attention to the first sentence in the Bill of Rights (The First Amendment pro vides that no law, in this case, no rule or policy, shall be made abridging the freedom of ex pression). To censor certain movies because of their content constitutes prior restraint -- a doctrine in the law that is now a half-century old. To censor the movies because they are potentially dangerous to some groups of people is still a prior restraint (See the Pentagon Papers case, New York Times Co. v. United States, 1971). My office is lined with text books containing case after case supporting my argument. But forget the law for a mo ment. Forget the irrationality of making a stink about one out `dated movie being shown voluntarily on one night. What about • the , prineipler. of. academic freedom? The U.S. Department of Education, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Penn State have long advocated a free, diverse, and intellectually limitless learning environment in which new ideas, robust debate, and alternative forms of expression can be aired. It is through this academic freedom that we all learn 'and grow and ultimately come to develop our own moral guideposts, political opinions and philosophical paths. To let our students or administrators restrain or even delay the airing of any one medium essentially undercuts our freedom to make informed choices. So I don't care if Debbie Does Dallas, Donna Does Dayton, or Diane Does Detroit. What concerns me is that Penn State's Capitol Campus main tains the same legal, phil osophical, and practical prin ciples of free expression that allow us to debate issues in class, challenge matters at city hall, espouse Communism, Atheism or Secular Humanism, to advertise tampons, bloody films about terrorists, or legal services to say what we want, see what we want, think about what we want and vote for who we want, and to publish a cam pus newspaper which sometimes assails the very peo ple for whom it is written. Mark S. Gurainick is an attorney-at-law and assistant profasor of Multi-Media Jour nal - ist* areapital. •
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