The state university system of Maryland adopted rules governing the acceptable use of pornographic movies on campus after a state senator objected to the showing of “Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge,” a pirate-themed fantasy porn, at the University of Maryland at College Park.
The controversy erupted last spring when a campus student group attempted to show the movie. When Sen. Andrew P. Harris — a Republican from Baltimore County — heard of the plans, he proposed a bill that would strip state funding from any institution that showed pornographic material.
Legislators have authority to intervene because taxpayer money was used to construct the building in which the film was to be shown and to pay for security and electricity in the building.
State-funded universities in Maryland have until Dec. 1 to submit policies on the “displaying or screening of obscene films and materials,” according to language added to the state operating budget in April. This legislative requirement applies to 11 colleges and universities in the state system as well as St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Baltimore City Community College, according to The Washington Post.
There is no policy on showing pornographic films on campus at AU, and they have been shown here before, according to Michael Elmore, the senior director at AU’s University Center. The last time was approximately eight years ago.
Kenton Stalder, a senior at UMD, said that the students planned to show the film in the campus theater, but when Harris made his views clear, the full showing had to be canceled. The next week the students showed clips of the film accompanied by an educational panel. The group had pre-sold about 50 tickets to the film before Harris became involved, Stalder said. He added the panel housed a significantly larger number of students.
Chetan Mehta, a junior at UMD, said that hundreds of students went to the panel discussion.
“The place was packed,” he said. “You couldn’t find a spot to sit on the stairs between aisles,” she said.
Robin Sawyer, a public health professor at UMD, was on the educational panel.
“If no one had made a big deal [about the film], about 40 people would have watched it and gone home afterwards,” he said. “If you don’t want students to watch porn, then don’t make such a big deal about it.”
The pirate film has been screened at the University of California at Los Angeles, Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University and others without incident, according to MTV News.
Stalder said he feels the policies that will suppress pornography on campus are unconstitutional.
“I think it’s misguided more so in the way that it sets a horrible precedent that the state legislature can have a problem with something on campus that is perfectly legal and use the funding as a threat,” he said.
Although there has been a negative reaction to Harris’ threat to withhold state funding, that might have been his only option. This is also not the first time it has been done, according to Elmore.
“If you’re upset by something that a school in your state is doing, what power do you actually have?” Elmore said. “That may be the only card you can play ... There may be some opportunism, but at the same time, I would not discount that whether it is for religious reasons, or that he is a father of daughters. There may be many ways that people can be hurt by this and decide to use the power of their office to get that point across.”
AU has a good track record of allowing free speech at the university.
“It is a healthy attitude for campuses to take,” Elmore said. “It takes more work, but if we’re trying to really enhance the student experience here, then we ought to be connected.”
Stalder said the controversy over this topic has not yet died down at UMD. “It’s very exciting,” he said. “It has been pretty cool to see hundreds of students walking around actively involved in this.”
Mike Lurie, media relations and web manager at the University System of Maryland, said that they had looked to see if other states had similar policies.
“In the process of developing the policy, no precedent has been found in any other state,” he said. “It is believed that Maryland is the first state that has been asked to develop such a policy.”
You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
