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Goodnight, moon
What's worse -- a tasteless flyer featuring the bethonged buttocks of undergraduate men, or a provost who censors the flyer?
That's the question at North Carolina State, where a student journalism recruitment flyer was removed from the first-year orientation packet by a provost who could not stomach the idea that incoming freshmen would be exposed to the exposed men--whose nether parts are decorated with shamrocks in honor of St. Patrick's day.
Student journalists at the NC State campus paper handled the issue beautifully, meeting with administrators and reaching a compromise that allows the paper to continue to use the flyer while respecting the provost's concern that the paper's recruitment methods were too cheeky. The flyers will be included in future versions of the packet, but stickers--paid for by the NC State administration--will cover the controversial areas. The stickers will direct interested students to the Technician website, where they can read about the controversy and find out how to become involved in campus journalism.
Posted by acta online at July 12, 2006 07:23 AM
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Comments
I am no fan of censorship, but I find it impossible to get upset about this. I would wish for our students much better than the porn studies and student porn magazines that are so highlighted in modern university "curricula." To my mind, universities should work to elevate, not degrade, their own charges. Kids are too immature and lacking in understanding to grasp the consequences of making themselves into borderline or overt pornography. It is our job to help them mature both intellectually and emotionally so that they understand what their actions signify, and the consequences of those actions.
Posted by: Federal Dog at July 13, 2006 07:50 AM