U-Md.'s X-Rated Decision
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The Post seems to be fine with the University of Maryland, even as a publicly funded school, allowing an X- rated film for students' viewing as long as the screening is underwritten with private funds ["Rated XXX," editorial, Oct. 12]. How quaint.
Suppose a privately funded campus organization wanted to host an "Amos 'N Andy" festival? Would it enjoy The Post's approval? The argument that something is "privately funded" hardly provides sufficient cover for a public display of material that most consider inappropriate.
There are a number of things that many -- if not most -- people consider unfortunate trends in our society: drugs, crime, abortion, divorce, racism, corruption, illiteracy, single parenthood. Pornography isn't on the list of societal pluses; it's on the negative list. So why the University of Maryland needs to be a tool for promoting that, I don't know.
JACK WEBB
Springfield
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I support censorship. Who doesn't? Death threats, false fire alarms and copyright infringements are not considered protected "speech." The question is not whether censorship is ever justified, but when it is. Should government-funded higher education facilities be used to publicly show pornography?
Tacking on a "packaged . . . discussion about . . . censorship and the First Amendment" to the screening does not remove the implied approval of this film. Discussions can occur without seeing pornography, which casts the professed educational value of the exercise in a dishonest light.
HEIDI LOGOTHETTI
Alexandria
