EDITORIAL
Sex content should
be told to students
In the past few months, virtually every student on this
campus has had the experience of perusing the Sched
ule of Classes,
Many undoubtedly noticed the column on the right
hand side of each page that lists ’'Notes’* about each
class, designed to help students pick their classes care
fully.
Some classes require instructor approval. Some have
a prerequisite course. Others may include an extra fee
for enrollment. All of these notes are signified by initials
or abbreviations.
Now imagine if all those classes contained another
descriptive note: PC, K or NC-17.
Such a scenario may just come to pass at the public
universities of Iowa, if current trends continue.
Instructors in three of Iowa's state universities have
been ordered to provide warnings before showing films
or videos that contain “explicit representations of
human sexual acts." This comes in the wake of two
recent incidents at the University of Iowa, which result
ed in a storm of complaints from students, parents,
alumni and legislators.
In the first of these incidents, students in a German
language class were shown the movie Taxi zum Klo, or
Taxi to the Bathroom, which was billed as an erotic
comedy and a landmark in gay filmmaking.
In the other incident, 160 students enrolled In an art
seminar were shown an eight-minute video that con
tained three scenes, totaling about 15 seconds, of men
engaging in oral sex.
The immediate argument that was raised against the
new policy, which so far only includes a verbal warning
to be issued just before the display, was that it consti
tuted a form of censorship — a hefty claim that simply
isn't supported by the facts.
A policy can only be considered censorship if it
restricts in some way a person's access to certain infor
mation. There was no attempt made to remove these
films from the curriculum, or to edit out any of the so
called “offensive" parts. The only difference is the
warning.
The effect of such a warning will bo negligible
because only a handful of people will pay any atten
tion to it anyway. College students are not exactly the
typo of people to say, "You better not show me that. 1
don't think 1 can handle it."
The policy is aimed only at the relatively few students
who are easily offended. It's just a courtesy.
If the warnings did end up scaring more moderately
minded students away, however, that would be a
shame. People need to be shocked from time to time.
Students who are afraid to bo shocked are essentially
afraid to learn. Despite this, a university must be
responsive to t he desires of the students, and if some of
them want to escape images that they find unsettling,
then they should have that right.
Daily
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COMMENTARY
Campus radio is tuned into students
By James Pierson
As the debate rages about
KWVA and its sound. I
have to say I've yet to
hear anything that isn't some
clever, off-the-cuff, "this will
impress everyone" stab based
solely from the perspective of
one or two people who want to
hear more of what they like from
their campus station
Phillip Abraham's letters were
quite on the boll with regard to
what it tukes to appeal to his
audience of friends, however, to
suggest that KWVA start doing
what it has been doing all along
is a puzzler. There's a great deal
more to what defines the sound
of a radio station than the space
of this column would permit,
however, us anyone knows me
will confirm. I'm willing to talk
at length with anyone who
wants to know anything about
radio.
In nearly 10 years of broad
cast, I’ve learned (among other
things) that if a station wants to
ap|Hial to the largest group of lis
teners possible, that station
should plug into a country and
western, news-talk, classic rock
or classical format, which are
pretty much enjoying thorough
coverage from commercial sta
tions. Anything else is likely to
be block-programmed into
obscurity, or pretty specialized
in its approach to its sound.
KWVA has undertaken the
ambitious task of being a "col
lege radio" station, while pro
viding a resource to the commu
nity for music that doesn't
receive respectable coverage in
this region. Contrary to the opin
ions of the disgruntled few,
there has been a great deul of
praise and support from listen
ers regarding our diverse format.
After only five months on the air
1 know we're far from perfect,
yet we're still rocking the pants
off other stations.
For legitimate confirmation of
how many listeners we have,
please spend the thousands of
After only five
months on the air I
know we’re far
from perfect, yet
we’re still rocking
the pants off other
stations.
dollars KWVA can't to subscribe
to tilt* Arbitron rating service. I
greatly urge anyone and every
one who has ideas for how to
improve KWVA to contact me
diret tlv if thev feel that our
quarterly new music surveys
and 500-plus weekly requests
don't make us responsive to
what students and the commu
nity at large want to hear.
One very important oversight
on behalf of both Philip Abra
ham and Kevin Nakamura is
that KWVA is here as a resource
for students to learn radio, and
there's nothing preventing their
involvement if they or anyones
else feels they know how to
spend the roughly 50 cents of
their incidental fee. I'm certain
that it's a much better solution
than impassioned letters that
throw around numbers about
our listeners and statements
about our sound that are plainly
false
KWVA is currently home to
almost 100 students who want
to do more than write letters
about how a station should run.
and though we may not be the
largest student organization on
campus, I'd say it's a respectable
use of the resource without the
traditional genetic predisposi
lion clause that can be found in
some form or another with other
Incidental Fee Committee-fund
ed groups.
I say this not to question the
value or importance of any cam
pus group, hut to illustrate that
there is not one student-funded
organization on this or any cam
pus that operates for the pur
pose of being representative of
every student, to the satisfaction
and happiness of every student.
The few dozen pennies per
student that we receive were in
fact voted on and approved by
students, unlike the few dozen
dollars each term devoted to a
ball team that has a better
chance of winning the Publish
er's Clearing House Sweepstakes
than it does a home game that
counts.
These are unrelated situa
tions. granted; however, we both
share what seems to Ihj an over
abundance of armchair quarter
backs who would rather gripe
about what they see as wrong
instead of actually becoming
involved and making it right.
Criticism, dissent and sugges
tions certainly have their place
with any student-funded organi
zation; however, when it takes
the form of dishing dirt to
impress friends and neighbors
with one’s literary prowess, it's
game over with regard to
whether you hope to be taken
seriously. Let’s remember that
this whole debate started with
the suggestion that we play
more recognizable music that
other people claim we play far
too much.
/omes Pierson is general man
ager of KWVA
COMMENTARY POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes commentaries from the
public concerning topics of interest to the University commu
nity.
Commentaries should be between 600 arid H00 words, legi
ble. signed and the identification of the writer must be verified
when the letter is submitted.
The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or
style.