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Show OurHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY · THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1999 iETTERS First A,nend,nent does not protect obscenity TO TIIE EDITOR: Whil some claim to be "greatly di curbed that there is a con tro ve rsy on the subject" concerning the internet policy, I believe it i an important debate and that th re i a uong ca e to be made for censorship. ome modern liberals, unfortunately "em ploy the rhetoric of right ince antly, not only to deligitimate the idea of restraints on individual b y com munities, but to prevent discu sion of the topic.. .in fact, rea on that ugge c the noncx.istence of a right is viewed a· a moraJ evil by the claimant. me on thi campus go even further hy labeling any rea oning they don 't agree with as fa cist and tyrannical and comparing them to Hitler or any other of the most evil people they can think of. They try to take the high road in their argument, they are the defenders of free peech and of inalienable rights. And yet in all the deha{e n t one of them has made a legitimate argument a to what pornography has to do with free peech or why we hould protect it. I have a professor who opposes any censorship of the internet as. being against the First Amendment, and yet the current texthook we are using is his class (Judicial Process tn America) teaches just the opposite. The textbook states, "In obscenity cases, for example, the Supreme Court has little difficulty in deciding that pornographic material is not n entitled to Constitutional protection." Thi same text gives example of cases such as Roth v. U.S. And Alberts ti. California in which, to quote the textbook , " .. . the nation 's high court ruled that ob cenity was not protected by the First Amendment" and d efines ob cenity as "mate rial that dealt with sex in a manner app aling to prurient interest. " even years later, according to the text , the upreme Court said , " ln determining what appealed to prurient int rest of the ave rage person, hypothetical 'national standards' were to he used." This came in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio. Again from the text, " ine years later the ourt changed iLS mind and ruJed that 'state community standards' couJd be employed," (Miller v. California) . It i intcre ting to note that in his tdit rial. A ociate Professor Mi hael tathi stated that the co mm on justifications for limitations on this campus are ·an appeal to community standards and majority rule." This is exactly what the Supreme Court called for. Two Supreme Court cases were used in a recent editoriaJ to oppose censorship of the internet, when in reality neither have anything to do with the current situation. Caltfornta v. Cohen hegan when Cohen entered a courthouse wearing a jacket with "F- the draft" printed on the back. He was arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct, ( continued on page 7) DIRECTING SfAFF AND DESK PllONE NUMBERS: Edi1or Glenn Halterman 586-7750 Auocia1e Editor David Bauatt 5 6- 7759 Opinio11 Director Anna Turpin 586-7759 Photo Edi1or John Guerrier 586-7750 Copy Editor Ru sell Miller 5 6-7750 Focu Editor K.lmi Eg.an 5 6-1992 Aru Editor Brandon Bevan 865-11443 110n Editor Oud Lamb 865-8443 ~ Almaruic Editor Anna Turpin 865-8226 Ad Manager Miranda M.abbutt 586-7758 Ad Drsigner Jansen Gunderson 586-7758 Faculty Advi en Larry Baker S 6-7751 Moni Brown 865-8S56 SENIOR STAFF WRJTERS AND ll.PORTER 'DESK Sfi6-7757, 5 6-548 The Un1~r,Uy /oumal ti ru.bhthi;,.-d "-""Yt.::fY Mnl\Jay anJ Thu.m.b1 of th·I.! aca-Jcmu; yc.u h)' and for the 1u.J...1u hnJy of Southern U1.1h Unlv~rsh:y. 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Sll6·7Y71 ' u,.;,,_;,y ftHU'Jllal: Olf,ca in SUU T1:ehnology BuilJlng 0 11. M>il at SUU llolt Y384, CcJar C,cy, Uuh M47l0. FAX 14351 Sl!6-~H7 E-ma,I address: ,oum,llhuu.ulu cJ"'"· l'IIIN'Tl'D UN IUl<.'YUfJ) P.<.PEI. Pl.EASE lE<.'YCUl nus COPY. DAVE BARRY COMMENTARY Prom dates and college ...oh, the decisions My on is a senior in high hool, which mean that pretty o n he , like million of other eni rs, will have to make a crucial decision, the con equences of which will remain with him for the rest of his life: Who will he his prom date? A.I o, at some point, he'll probably select a college. In fact, we've aJready gone on several college vi ·it , which are helpful in choosing a college because you can gee answers to important academic questions uch as: Is there parking? Are all the student required to get body piercings? Or is this optional at the undergraduate level? Is there a bank near the college that you can rob to pay the tuition? Most college visits include an orientation session, wherein you sit in a lecture room and a college official tells you impressive statistics about the college, including, almost always, how small the classes are. Class smallness is considered the uJtimate measure of how good a co llege is. Harvard, for example, has zero students per class: The professors just sit aJone in their classrooms, filing their nails. I noticed, in these orientation sessions, that many of the kids seem semi-bored, whereas the parents not only take notes, but also ask most of the questions, sometimes indicating that they've mapped out their children's entire academic careers all the way through death. There will be ome girl who looks 11.ke she's 11 years old, and her dad will raise his hand and ay: "If my daughter declare a quadruple major in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Large cary Equations, and she graduates with honors and then earns doctorates in Medicine, Engineering, Law, Archite ture, Dentistry and Taxidermy, and then she qualifies for a Merwanger Fellowship for Interminab le Postdoctoral Studie , does the Nobel organization pay her expenses to weden to pick up her prize?" I wa intimidated by the e parent . I have frankly not given that much thought to my son's academic goals. I assumed he was going to college for the ame reason I did, which is that at some point they stop letting you go to high school. After the orientation session, you go on a campus tour conducted by a student who i required to tell you the name of every single 'I I ' I \ , ... building on the campus, no matter how many there are ( "Over there is the Gwendolyn A. Heckenswacker In titute for the tudy of Ccnain Asian Mollu k , which we call 'The Heck.' nd ove r there is th e Myron and Glady B. Prunep ket Center for Musty Old Books That Nobody Ever Look At. And right next to that is The Building Right Next to the Myron and Gladys .. .") . After the tour, the kids have interviews with college officials. My son revealed little about what goes on in these interviews. My theory is that the officials clo e the door and say: "Relax. You'll spend the majority of college attending parties, playing hacky sack and watching 'friends.' The tour is purely for the parents. The guides make up the building name as they go along." One of the colleges my son visited was my alma mater, Haverford College (proud motto: "Among The First In The Nation To Drop Football"). l was a little nervous about going back: I expected that, at any moment, the dean would tap me on the shoulder and say: "Mr. Barry, we need to talk to you about your share of the Clas of I 969's bill for the cost of craping an estimated 23,000 butter pats off the dining-hall ceiling." Fortunately, this did not happen. Our student guide gave an excellent tour, although be failed to point out ome of the more historic sites at Haverford, including: • The building where, in 1967, the rock band "The Federal Duck" made the historic discovery that if it was going to play "PurpJe Haze" correctly, it needed WAY bigger amplifier ; • The dormjtory room where my roommate Bob Stern and I accumulated what historians b elieve was th~ world's largest man-made pile of unlaundered brifi: . Those are my most vivid memories, aJthough 1 also vaguely recaJI attending classes and learning numerous English-major facts that still come in mighty handy whenever the topic of conver ation turns-as it so often does-to I 7th Century Engli h metaphysical poetry . Ye , college was a valuable experience for me, and I'm sure it will also be one for my on, wherever he decides to go. On prom night, I mean. '\ t l ~ " ' • ,..,_. ••• " • ·"'- ,.• |