Acadmic Freedom and Common Sense

Observer - Viewpoint
by William Dempsey
Alumnus, Class of 1952

"For my part, I supposed that the fuss over the Monologues was probably unwarranted - until I read the play. Then the question became, for me, not open to reasonable debate. Violence against women is but a footnote - just a handful of pages. The body of the play is a paean, couched in the most graphic language in the relevant lexicon, to illicit sex of all varieties short of bestiality (including sexual seduction of a minor by an adult). Strip those passages, and there is no play. If the University may not exercise control respecting this play, it is hard to imagine any meaningful bounds to academic freedom."

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