All anyone ever seems to be talking about is porn. And of course, we’re no exception.

But this time, our message is different: students prevailed.

Today, the Board of Regents listened to student concerns about a policy that would restrict free speech on campus.  In a unanimous vote, the Regents voted that their policy would be NO POLICY.  According to the recommendation of Chancellor Kirwan, the Board of Regents adopted the policy that the system's universities would abide by the "laws of the land," as detailed in a letter they will send to the state legislature.   Last spring, university officials canceled a screening of the triple-X pornographic film Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge at the Hoff Theater after state senators introduced an amendment to the budget that would withhold funding from the university if the film was shown.  The amendment was introduced by State Senator Andy Harris (R-Baltimore and Harford), and would likely have passed if the university had not canceled the showing.  The state senate then tasked the Board of Regents, the governing body of the University System of Maryland (USM), with developing a policy that would deal with the issue of showing obscene materials for entertainment purposes on campus.  Student activists protested, and held their own showing of the film.  They screened the first 30 minutes of the film, but the main focus of the event had turned to free speech and the ability of the state government to dictate what happens on a university campus.
Due to the high level of controversy over this issue, the 17-member Board of Regents delayed the finalization of a policy until this fall.  In October, the Student Government Association organized a “Forum on Free Speech,” in which students were able to voice their opinions to Student Body President Steve Glickman and the student member of the Board of Regents, Sarah Elfreth.  The response was overwhelming: not one person at the forum argued for the creation of a restrictive policy.  Students felt that any sort of policy could be interpreted to restrict a wide variety of student activities, and that these activities are crucial to the environment of a place of higher learning.  Additionally, our Student Government Association, along with four other USM Student Government Associations and the USM Student Council, passed a resolution opposing any policy.  But they didn't stop there - they continued the fight by pressuring decision makers to make the right decision.

At today's meeting, the Board of Regents heard from students Brady Walker, Chair of the USM Student Council, Glickman, and SGA ARHU Legislator Kenton Stalder, who introduced the SGA resolution against a policy. Glickman made it clear that students support the decision for no policy to be the policy. He argued that a decision against a policy would not be a decision for pornography, rather it would be about "protecting students' right to screen entertainment events on campus without the fear of inappropriate outside interference."   While the Board of Regents originally did not think this type of policy, effectively a lack of policy, would be the conclusion of the discussion, SGA led student activism and widespread regional media attention demanded that this be the result.

This is, after all, OUR university.

 


Comments


Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply