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Taking offense
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Whitney Larsen, a sophomore theatre arts major
from Kaysville, and Joshua Peterson, a freshman
theatre arts major from Casper, Wyo., practice a
scene as part of an acting class project. The theatre
department adheres to a policy guiding students
to perform the play as the playwright intended.
ELIZABETH MILLER / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL |
Theatre departments face scrutiny
after U. student sues for content
By JACKIE ANDRUS
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Administrators in the SUU theatre department say while
playwrights are entitled to have their original works
performed without censorship, it is the student’s
responsibility to be aware of plays they may find offensive
to perform.
The theatre department adheres to a policy of academic
freedom that says students must perform an on-stage production
as the playwright intended it, including using profanity,
unless a play’s director contacts the publisher
or playwright for editing permission, said Christi Lusk,
assistant professor of theatre arts.
However, that requirement only applies to on-stage productions.
Professors usually allow students to edit classroom material
for scenes or lines they may find offensive, Lusk said.
Yet it is also the department’s responsibility to
give students a broad base of acting opportunities, which
can include artistically challenging plays, Lusk added.
“The general consensus is that a script is someone
else’s creation, and when you edit that you are
infringing on their creativity,” Lusk said. “Some
playwrights are very protective of their material. There
are also copyright laws that say a person can be sued
for changing something without the author’s consent.”
Students are usually given a script before auditions,
and by auditioning they are entering into a contract that
says they are aware of the content, Lusk said.
“Students have options, including academic freedom,”
she said. “But it is also the students’ responsibility
to be aware of class content and be aware of any play
they are being cast into.”
The question of academic freedom stems from a student’s
suit a tthe University of Utah in which Christina Axson-Flynn
sued the university, claiming discrimination because an
acting course
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required her to use language she objected
to, reported in a story in Monday’s edition of The
Salt Lake Tribune.
Axson-Flynn said she was forced out of the university’s
acting program for refusing to say the “f-word”
and take the Lord’s name in vain in stage performances.
On the other hand, university’s attorneys said the
case is a matter of academic freedom.
While Axson-Flynn’s religious viewpoints may clash
with saying
obscene words on-stage, she does not have the right to object
to the curriculum based on her religious viewpoints.
Axson-Flynn’s case was moved to the 10th Circuit Court
of Appeals in Denver on Tuesday after U.S. District Judge
Tena Campbell dismissed the case before it ever went to
trial last fall.
The federal court had ruled the university did not infringe
on Axson-Flynn’s rights because the offending words
were part of a drama curriculum that was not designed to
single her out or deprive her of her right to practice religion,
The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
While academic freedom has not been universally recognized
as equivalent to a constitutional right, courts still see
it as worthy of protection, the article added.Still academic
freedom is a right some SUU professors take seriously, especially
when it comes to original work.
When anybody takes words out of any piece of original writing
it becomes their work and not the original author’s,
said Kay Cook, English Department chair and a playwright.
Cook, whose work includes the play Sweet Maggie Blues, said
one of the principle characters in the play is Bonnie Parker
of Bonnie and Clyde fame. Parker, Cook said, was a woman
who used profanity, and so to be true to the real-life woman,
Cook has also included profane words in her play.
“Words are powerful,” Cook said. “You
don’t ever fool around with someone else’s play
without permission.”
Profanity in her plays and in other authors’ novels
and poetry is usually not used as shock value, Cook said.
She also said in the English Department, faculty are highly
trained in their profession and would never choose a novel
for shock value because professors have taken the time to
understand the profession.
That’s not to say some students have not confronted
English professors with literature they find obscene; however,
Cook said the English Department’s general policy
is that complaints should first be taken to the instructor
and then the department chair.
Cook used the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, a Nobel
Prize in Literature recipient, as an example of literature
some students have found offensive.
The novel, which is taught in freshmen composition classes,
is about an African American girl who wants blue eyes. Cook
said there has been a complaint from only one student.
“English majors are sophisticated and they do know
how to read and what to read for,” Cook said. “Sometimes,
though, we have to help composition students along with
their reading of what a good novel is about, and I think
we do that.”
The Art Department also tries to work with students when
students may find academic requirements offensive.
One of the Art Department’s required courses, Life
Drawing and Anatomy, requires students to draw nude models,
however, if a student is adamant about not taking the course,
then the department works with the student to fill the requirement
with a substitute class, said Brian Hoover, Art Department
chair.
“Most students are nervous at first,” Hoover
said. “But in my seven years of teaching at SUU, I
only know of two students with whom we made special allowances.”
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Tuition explosion looms
Latest hike could reach 19 percent
By TASHA WILLIAMS
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Administrators are planning to propose a 17 to 19 percent
tuition increase above the 4.5 percent increase the Board of
Regents approved earlier this month.
In-state students will incur an increase of approximately $161-$180
per semester, which student leaders and administration says
isn’t as drastic as the percentage figures because SUU
already has a relatively low tuition rate.
“This is a major increase and we understand that,”
President Steven D. Bennion said. “But most people when
they’re looking at investing in their future are willing
to pay a bit more now to have a better future. That’s
the bottom line.”
The SUUSA Executive Council met with administrators Wednesday
to discuss the feasibility of implementing the increase for
Fall 2003, after what Dean O’Driscoll, assistant to the
president for university relations, and Bennion said
was an impressive effort from student leaders to benefit the
students with funds from the increase.
“We realize every increase is difficult to pay . . . but
it’s important that we move forward as a university, but
we do want our degrees to be worth something,” SUUSA President
Matt Glazier said. “You do what you have to do to do what’s
right.”
The increase follows an approval from the Board of Regents for
a 4.5 percent tuition increase, allowing administrators at Utah
colleges to determine an additional local increase, which must
be approved by the Board of Regents on Jan. 17, Bennion said.
Bennion said in preliminary calls with regents, the regents
said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the
increase because of concerns with Legislative dollars.
Bennion also speculated the increase could be the largest percentage
increase in the state.
Students will have the opportunity to discuss the increase at
an open forum that will be Dec. 2 at 4 p.m. in the Starlight
Room.
Bennion said the division of the funds will focus on student
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retention and recruitment, faculty development and retention,and
a software upgrade that will eventually help advisers keep their
students on track.
O’Driscoll said student leaders had an almost identical
outlook on where the funds should be divvied, and one of the
top priorities on both administrative and student lists were
student advisement.
A full-time faculty adviser will be added to the four colleges
who currently work without one so that each college will be
represented by a full-time adviser, O’Driscoll said.
SUUSA Academic Vice President Kolby Day said student leaders
spoke with students and some said they’d pay as much as
$100 per semester to spend time with a faculty adviser.
The Executive Council said it believes the increase is important
in providing students prepared advisers.
Administrators say the increase might cause financial stress
on students now, but in the long run offering better advisement
will prevent students from taking credits they don’t need
and might help them graduate sooner, actually saving them more
semesters of tuition.
To help with advisement, a discounted computer program will
be purchased and will help with student and financial records,
helping advisers track the academic status of students. Bennion
said the software will be bought for just 10 cents on the dollar.
Administrators also said funds will be given to increase the
amount of vital summer courses that will help bottleneck students
through to their important courses, something they say could
help reduce the additional number of semesters students enroll.
They also stressed these courses could help save students money
in the long run.
A “modest” amount will also be divided to better
the faculty by better training, hiring more faculty members,
and increasing the salary of faculty so they are more likely
to spend more time teaching at SUU, Bennion said.
“Salary isn’t the only way to keep them here,”
O’Driscoll said.
A small portion also will be given to the marketing of the institution
to make it more visible.
“There’s too many people in this state who don’t
know the quality of programs that are here, the kind of institution
we are, our mission; we are investing in some efforts to help
with our outreach efforts,” Bennion said.
In a Nov. 18 Journal article, O’Driscoll said the increase
is being considered so the financial burden of college rests
more heavily on the students than on the administrators, like
it is in higher education outside Utah.
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