Last week’s issue of Rochester’s “City” ran an article entitled “Porn 101.”
“They’re not in a position to criticize a private institution and they don’t have the right to tell us not to spend money on porn,” junior and Students’ Association Appropriations Committee Treasurer Carolyn Kaminski said of the article.
The article discussed UR’s showing of pornography on-campus as well as the SA’s consideration of using university money to purchase porn DVDs for the Rush Rhees’ Library DVD collection.
“On the other hand, I don’t think we should blindly spend money on every tradition,” Kaminski added.
As the article mentioned, the Cinema Group has shown porn on-campus nearly every year for at least the past 28 years. In fact, the “Spring Porn” is so popular that it is shown in Hubbell Auditorium to accommodate a larger audience than Hoyt Hall, the usual location, can hold. More than 800 people attend.
Porn at UR may not be limited to an annual Cinema Group screening. It could be added to Rush Rhees’ DVD collection if the Senate votes to approve spending SA funds on such materials.
“It’s a campus tradition,” senior and SA President Lonny Mallach said of the annual screening. “That so many people go to see it is indicitave that a significant portion of this campus wants to see that.” Regarding the purchase of porn DVDs for the library, Mallach said, “Too many students thought it was inappropriate, so I don’t think it will happen.”
“It’s a social turn-off that UR uses money students pay in tuition to buy porn,” freshman Bryan Ciambella said.
“There are a lot of things that people try out once in college. This is one of those things,” Mallach said of the campus porn showing.
Yunis can be reached at tyunis@campustimes.org.