More than 850 UCLA students show up to porn film screening

    It's a Thursday evening on campus, and you have a couple of options for the evening. Should you: finish that Physics 12 problem set for Friday's lecture? Hit up a party in Zeta Psi's basement? See your roommate star in this weekend's Balch production? Or maybe see a porn screening?
    Last month, students at the University of California, Los Angeles had similar options. Their Campus Events Commission sponsored a free showing of "Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge" (2008), a high-budget pornographic film.
    "It was our biggest event of the quarter, surpassing events with actors like Alan Rickman or blockbusters like ‘Eagle Eye' [2008] and ‘Body of Lies' [2008]," Alex Jeffries, films director for the Campus Events Commission, said.
    He explained that Digital Playground, the production company for "Pirates II," contacted the university with the idea for the screening.
    "I discussed the idea with several other directors and our commissioner, and there was a lot of positive support," Jeffries told the Daily in an e-mail. "We then took the idea to our faculty advisor, and he let us know we could legally do the screening as long as we checked IDs — students had to be over 18 — so we went forward with the idea."
    Despite threats of a protest organized on Facebook.com by various UCLA Christian organizations, over 850 students attended the film's screening without a hitch. The Facebook protest event encouraged students to register and get one of the limited numbers of wristbands for the event so that other students would not be able to go. There were also rumors of a walkout and of e-mails to be sent to the Commission and chancellor's office.
    "From the Facebook events they made it sound to us as if we would be dealing with protests, but the night went very smoothly," Jeffries said. "It was certainly an interesting screening. Initially, people were laughing and [being] raucous, but I think the length of the movie may have [worn] on them. It's over two hours [long]."
    UCLA may be starting a trend with this type of movie, but Tufts doesn't look like it's going to fall in line anytime soon. According to sophomore Matthew DiGirolamo, former president of the Tufts Film Series (TFS), the idea for a porn screening has been brought up in TFS meetings in the past but has not had much momentum.
    TFS chooses its movie selections in a group vote. Limitations on its film choices are mainly due to the group's semesterly budget, and it does not need approval from the
Tufts administration.
    DiGirolamo, who is an arts editor at the Daily, said that if TFS voted to screen a pornography film, he would not necessarily ask permission from the administration but would rather give them a warning of what was
to come.
    The situation was similar at UCLA. "In terms of [our] administration, we talked to our advisor," Jeffries said. "It was not a question of whether or not to show the movie; it was just about making sure we were able to handle ourselves in a professional manner."
    According to Bruce Reitman, dean of student affairs at Tufts, TFS would not be prohibited from screening a pornographic film.
    "The university would not sponsor it because we shouldn't. … But the question comes up about academic freedom," Reitman said.
    He explained that, above all else, students must have a choice about whether or not they wish to view the film. For example, the university would not allow a professor to show pornography in a class or let a campus group screen a pornographic film in a dorm where students could see images unwillingly and be victimized.
    "We're not in a position to be moralists … and censor what some consider bad taste," Reitman said. "The issue arises when it affects other people. On campus, there is [a] complex diversity of values, beliefs and backgrounds, and no one can agree on everything. … That's not to be feared; in fact, the civil dialogue is to be encouraged."
    Overall, Reitman does not see any value in a pornographic screening but does not think that the university should censor what some consider an art form.
    Although the administration wouldn't put up a fight, DiGirolamo does not think that TFS would ever host a porn screening at Tufts. While members have joked about the possibility in the past, it has never actually come up for a vote. Still, he said that if there were enough student interest, the group would consider the option.
    Students on campus have differing opinions about a potential pornography screening.
    "I think that most Tufts students would be open to the idea [of a porn screening]. … Tufts has very liberal, open-minded ideals," senior Rachel Wenger, a leader for Tufts Christian Fellowship, said.
    On the other hand, Wenger said, she is personally not in favor of a university porn screening and feels that porn degrades men, women and their relationships to just the physical aspects.
    "[Porn] paints a false picture of sex. … It's wrong for a university to endorse that perspective. … A university has to make a decision on what [it] stand[s] for," she said.
    Freshman Evan West is more open to the idea.
    "Porn, like other films, can be … kind of an art form," he said. "It goes against some people's values, but students on campus have different values."
    But even DiGirolamo said he probably would not attend such
a screening.
    "It seems a little awkward. … Porn is not exactly the type of thing you would want to watch with other people,"
he said.