By The Editorial Board
Recently, the paper pulled its issue due to concerns over an image of a naked woman and man engaging in a sex act on an interior page. The image was a drawing, not an actual photograph, but it was an explicit image. Christopher Rodgers, dean of students at Rose Hill, and Alanna Nolan, assistant dean of Student Leadership and Community Development, brought the issue forward to the House Committee, a third-party branch of United Student Government to act in an advisory capacity. Members of the House Committee are appointed by the USG vice president of student life. The House Committee is discussing the cartoon and issue that the image raises about free speech and recent conversations about sexual assault at Fordham.
We at The Fordham Ram believe that Rogers and Nolan should be applauded for bringing this issue forward to the House Committee to allow students to take an active hand in deciding what is and is not acceptable for publication here at Fordham.
We do not feel, however, that it is right to bring this image forward as part of a conversation about free speech. Free speech is an extremely important issue here at Fordham, and one that we at The Fordham Ram are strongly committed to as members of an editorially independent publication. The image the paper printed is not an image that qualifies as free speech, so it should not be used to discuss the free speech issue. Obscenity is a type of speech not protected by the First Amendment. The image is clearly obscene and fails the obscenity test established by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California (1973). As such, this image, as unprotected obscenity, is not an issue of free speech at all. Citing this image as an example of why free speech should be restricted on campus is inappropriate and cheapens a much larger issue. We hope the House Committee will acknowledge that this is not a censorship issue and is not indicative of how free speech issues should be handled in the future.
Additionally, this image is not an appropriate one to bring up in conjunction with the issue of sexual assault. Sexual assault is also a serious and important issue that needs to be discussed appropriately. This image is not an image that depicts sexual assault. The image is pornographic and does not, in our eyes, have a place on campus.
Censoring pornographic images, however, is not getting to the heart of sexual assault issues on campus. Sexual assault needs to be addressed and labeling this image as a sexual assault issue detracts from the serious conversations that need to be had about how to prevent sexual assault on campus and actually protect students.
Finally, we would like to commend the paper for making the difficult decision to hold the issue. The image was in poor taste, but the paper handled the criticism with grace.
