The law students at the University of Maryland, Baltimore have spoken:
Don’t mess with WALL-E.
That’s what UMB Student Body President Evan Cordes told the Board of Regents last Friday. He said that just because this university made a “bad choice” in showing XXX flick Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge last spring, inciting the wrath of the state legislature, other campuses in the University System of Maryland shouldn’t suffer as well.
Cordes told the Regents that UMB students like to watch movies like WALL-E with their kids and a policy on pornography might limit those movie nights. This reporter is personally trying to remember the hardcore sex secnes in WALL-E.
Here’s a video of his speech, with text after the jump:
Good Morning Mr. Chancellor, ladies and gentlemen of the Board of Regents, school Presidents. My name is Evan Cordes and I am a third year law student here at the University of Maryland Baltimore. I am also the President of the University Student Government Association, the governing body for all students on this campus. While there are many things I would love to talk to you about, my Senate and Executive Board has asked that I address the free speech and movie policy that is being discussed. I come with three separate proposals, in hopes that you will choose at least one of them.
First, we ask that you consider going back to the General Assembly and asking for the removal of this mandate. It sets a bad precedent for campuses everywhere and it will cause a lot of problems and create a lot of expenses for the system. For example, I know that students at the law school are exciting for a restrictive policy merely so they can break it in as many ways as possible and then be able to bring the law suit for practice purposes. This is not the kind of publicity or costs the system or state would like.
Second, if the first is not an option we ask that you create a special exemption for UMB. We are not an undergraduate campus but one filled with graduate and professional students. As such we often feel we are penalized for what happens on the primarily undergraduate campuses. Here for example, we have schools with a large portion of married students with children. Those schools hold movie nights showing films like Wall-E so that parents can mix and mingle while their children would watch the movie. To limit them or require an educational program would probably spell the end for these types of events.
We are also a medical campus. We have some of the only medical schools in Maryland and some of the top nursing, dental, and medical schools in the country. Their student groups often show a film that could be labeled “pornographic”
for educational purposes. Films that discuss or deal with anatomy, abortion, surgery, and other topics that a group may show but without a discussion or educational program after the event. To again limit those films or require some sort of approval process would probably kill those events and opportunities for our unique student body. Especially in this tough economic times, student groups often do not have the financial resources to go beyond their current activities.
Finally, if you can do neither of the two previous options, we ask that you make the policy as limited as possible. Limiting the requirements to only films with an R, NC-17 or higher rating by the MPAA. This would at least provide guidance to student groups who want to show films. We understand some of the free speech implications this may have, but it would provide the best opportunity for student groups to still show appropriate films.
Members of the Board of Regents, thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. I hope you consider the requests I have provided, ranked in the order they were stated. We feel that UMB students should not be punished merely because the students at College Park made a bad choice. Thank you for your time.
(Thanks to Mike Lurie from the USM communications staff for the video and text.)