File spoon-archives/phillitcrit.archive/phillitcrit_1997/phillitcrit.9711, message 663


Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 16:55:01 -0500
From: Lydia Hucker <aquamarine-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: PLC: SUNY Conference


> The particular discussion panel that Pataki was complaining about
> featured
> members of the S&M community talking about their experiences...

Here's what I got.
Best,
L. Hucker
 


> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 07:25:02 -0500
> From: Kenneth Sherrill <ksherril-AT-SHIVA.HUNTER.CUNY.EDU>
> Reply-To: "CUNYTALK: Forum for Discussion of General CUNY Issues"
>      <CUNYTALK-AT-CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
> To: CUNYTALK-AT-CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
> Subject: Right-Wing Lunatics Assault Academic Freedom
> 
> The following comes from today's New York Times. If you are interested in
> preventing similar actions in the future, I suggest contatcting me
> directly
> about contributing to The Higher Education PAC. Remember that Gov. Pataki
> runs for re-election next year and that he named Candace de Russy to the
> SUNY Board of Trustees in return for the electoral support of CHANGE-NY.
> 
> Ken Sherrill
> 
> November 7, 1997
> 
> Conference on Sex Topics Provokes Debate
> 
> By KAREN W. ARENSON
> 
> <Picture: T>he president of the State University of New York at New Paltz
> is under fire from the governor and one of the system's trustees after a
> women's studies conference on sadomasochism, lesbianism and other sexual
> topics was held on the New Paltz campus last weekend.
> 
> Gov. George Pataki, in a statement, said it was "outrageous" that state
> money was spent on the conference, which included sessions like "Sex Toys
> for Women" and "Safe, Sane and Consensual S&M: An Alternate Way of
> Loving."
> He called on SUNY's chairman to develop recommendations on "how to
> prevent
> this kind of activity from happening on a SUNY campus again."
> 
> "This has nothing to do with freedom of speech and everything to do with
> the proper expenditure of tax dollars," the governor said.
> 
> Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment expert, challenged Pataki's assessment of
> the issue. "Once the state has a public university," he said, "it is not
> free to act as if only acceptable judgments may be voiced at the
> university."
> 
> Candace de Russy, a SUNY trustee who attended the conference, called for
> the resignation of New Paltz's president, Roger Bowen. She said the
> conference was a "travesty of academic standards and process and had
> absolutely nothing to do with the college's undergraduate mission."
> 
> She was the only trustee who voted against Bowen's appointment as
> president
> of New Paltz last year.
> 
> De Russy added that the conference, "Revolting Behavior: The Challenges
> of
> Women's Sexual Freedom," represented poor scholarship at a time when the
> trustees were trying to raise academic standards.
> 
> "President Bowen exercised exceedingly poor judgment and oversight and is
> unfit to oversee the college," she added, saying that she knew of at
> least
> one other trustee, Paul Perez, who agreed with her. "I will do whatever I
> can do to get him dismissed," she said.
> 
> Bowen, who gave opening remarks at the conference, said Thursday night
> that
> the real issue at stake was free speech, not taxpayer money, and charged
> critics with trying to curb debate on the campus. He said that
> personally,
> he finds some views expressed on campus offensive and disagreeable.
> 
> "But so what?" he said. "What's the surprise?
> 
> "This boils down to a simple principle of the First Amendment," he said.
> "Public or private, a university should provide a forum to present,
> discuss
> and debate things. If you can't have groups on the margin here, where can
> you have them?"
> 
> SUNY's chancellor, John Ryan, said the university would respond to
> Pataki's
> request for a report on the New Paltz activities, in consultation with
> Bowen, the college's council and others.
> 
> In a statement, the chancellor cited the importance of academic freedom
> but
> coupled it with the notion of responsibility.
> 
> "Academic freedom -- the right to intellectually explore any subject in
> the
> pursuit of knowledge -- is our most cherished value," he said. "With it
> comes great responsibility. It is our obligation to ensure the taxpayers
> of
> the state of New York and members of our university community that there
> will be no violation of their right to freedom of expression."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was unclear Thursday night how much support de Russy will find on the
> 16-member board, which is controlled by appointees of Pataki. Arnold
> Gardner, one of the few remaining trustees appointed by Gov. Mario uomo,
> said he had heard little about the New Paltz issue and had received no
> notice of it from SUNY's central administration.
> 
> Bowen said that this is the 21st year New Paltz has hosted a women's
> studies conference, and that some previous conferences at his college and
> others have focused on similar themes. He defended the level of
> scholarship
> at last weekend's conference and said it had included workshops on
> subjects
> like birth control and HIV education as well as those on sadomasochism,
> lesbianism and women's sexual toys.
> 
> Still, in written comments circulated publicly, Bowen said he told the
> conference's organizers that he "personally found several of their
> planned
> panel topics offensive and in poor taste."
> 
> De Russy was also critical of another New Paltz conference that begins
> Friday, "Subject to Desire: Refiguring the Body." Sponsored by the School
> of Fine and Performing Arts, it will include a performance of "Angels in
> America," the play about AIDS, as well as a session on the sexual content
> of Andy Warhol's artwork.
> 
>


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