Pres. Bennion walks fine line with PVA letter
As we publish our final edition of the 2002-2003 academic
year, the University Journal has come full circle —
and so has SUU President Steven D. Bennion.
Scarcely two weeks into Fall 2002 semester, the Journal
kicked up a firestorm by publishing a controversial story
about condom distribution on campus. The story was accompanied
by a provocative graphic and a clever, double-entendre
headline, both of which drew the ire of Bennion and Board
of Trustees member Dane O. Leavitt.
After months of accusations and denials about attempts
to censor the paper, the Journal and the administration
reached an uneasy, unspoken truce.
The president doesn’t tell us what we can or cannot
put in the paper, but he reserves the right to tell us
when we do something he doesn’t like. We try to
be receptive to his comments, even when we disagree.
In recent weeks, President Bennion has faced similar concerns
about the freedom of student expression on campus, and
we endorse the way he has handled it.
When community members and students approached him about
the “mature audiences-only” content of plays
and musicals produced by students, faculty and staff in
the College of Performing & Visual Arts, Bennion reacted
by writing a carefully worded yet pointed letter to PVA
Dean Charles Metten.
The letter, acquired by the Journal through a Utah GRAMA
request, asked Metten and PVA faculty and staff to take
a “careful look at balancing the menu of offerings
we provide our students and the larger community we serve.”
We were probably too close to the situation last fall
to fully appreciate the quandary Bennion faced as he weighed
the interest of the community against the interest of
the students.
In his role as SUU’s primary representative to the
community, Bennion faces the daunting task of balancing
students’ needs to grow as actors or performers
against an ultra-conservative community’s call for
“decency.”
Students majoring in theatre arts need to perform in plays
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other than musicals to develop their talents, but community
members want plays to which they can bring the whole family.
In his letter to Metten, Bennion did a good job walking
that fine line — even if we believe PVA ought to be
free to choose its productions without administrative oversight.
He was careful not to trample on the expressive freedoms
of performers, but he communicated the concerns of a conservative
constituency.
It is ironic that his letter was prompted in part by a University
Journal reporter who asked Bennion what he thought about
the fact most SUU theatre productions had been produced
for “mature” audiences.
Bennion’s letter — and our response to it —
is evidence that everyone involved in the free speech debate
has grown up a little this year, and we’re all that
much better for the experience.
The opinion expressed above is the collective perspective
of the University Journal’s editorial board. The editorial
board meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Room 176C of the
Sharwan Smith Center. Visitors are welcome.
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