Baltimore Sun

he University of Maryland, College Park, will allow students to screen a pornographic film Monday night, in defiance of a state lawmaker who has threatened to cut funding to the university, according to a student leader organizing the screening.

Last week, university administrators canceled a planned showing of the hard-core film Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge after state lawmakers objected. In response, students organized their own screening for Monday night. Administrators told students this afternoon they would allow the film to be shown, said Kenton Stalder, a junior who met with College Park President C.D. Mote Jr. on Monday.

A university spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Students have scheduled a news conference for 6:30 p.m. in front of McKeldin Library. The screening of the $10 million porn movie is to start at 7, after a discussion about freedom of speech and academic integrity, led by an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer and several university professors.

“The students are standing up for what they believe — and I agree — is an important principle of academic integrity, a principle that the university administration was sadly unwilling to stand up for,” said David Rocah, the ACLU lawyer who will be participating in the discussion.

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State Sen. Andrew P. Harris, who led the opposition to the film last week, said Monday he would move to cut off capital funds to the university unless the film screening was blocked. He said legislators have authority to intervene because taxpayer money was used to construct the building in which the film is to be shown and to pay for security and electricity for the building.

Harris, a Republican representing Baltimore and Harford counties, said administrators needed to assert their authority. “The taxpayers are paying a high six-figure salary to a lot of people who are supposed to be running that campus,” Harris said in a statement. “They need to take control of this situation. If they cannot handle this situation, they cannot handle the type of money that is earmarked for them in the capital budget either.”

Josef Parker, one of the students organizing Monday night’s screening, said the legislators were stepping on the free speech rights not of the university, but of the students, and that they felt they needed to stand up for themselves.

“We’re all very interested in protecting students’ rights and having a stronger voice for students on campus,” said Parker, a sophomore from Baltimore. “The administration … should tell the legislature that it’s our university and they don’t have jurisdiction over every single thing we do on campus.”

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