University of Pornography
Sens. Harris and Raskin Discussing Pornography (Photo: Baltimore Sun)
A pissing contest erupted yesterday in the Maryland Senate over the right of the state’s largest public university, the University of Maryland, to show a pornographic movie at the Student Union.
Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a conservative Republican representing Baltimore and Harford counties, declared “pornography is not fun; it’s poison. They [The University] want to get our kids hooked on pornography.” As a reaction, he proposed an amendment to deny the university all public funding if they refused to pull the movie. The First Amendment argument was proposed for by Sen. Jamin B. Raskin of Montgomery County.
Ultimately the University caved for fear of losing $400 million dollars. Linda Clement, vice president for student affairs at Maryland, gave this rather weak excuse: “I think people were concerned about portrayal of women, concerned about violence, concerned about our students and decision-making processes.” Because shows like Law and Order: SVU don’t gratuitously depict sexual violence against women nightly on prime-time TV.
Aside from the annoying attack on the First Amendment and the sad thought that our state government spent over an hour discussing this issue, there were a few funny aspects. This discussion arose during an elementary school field trip to the Senate. Also, in the linked Sun article, the “university of pornography” appears (what a difference capital letters make) after one of Sen. Raskin’s comments.
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Tags: Maryland, pornography