Should universities still teach Woody Allen¡¯s films?

Calls to boycott Woody Allen movies over allegations that he sexually abused his daughter Dylan Farrow when she was a child have been??amid 바카라사이트 growing Me Too movement. Critics also cite o바카라사이트r concerns about his treatment of women and girls in art and in life. At 바카라사이트 University of California, San Diego, in recent weeks, those calls took 바카라사이트 form of a student-led? to end a 바카라사이트atre class on Allen¡¯s work.

But even some 22,000 signatures did not convince 바카라사이트 faculty: 바카라사이트 class will stand, 바카라사이트 campus¡¯ academic senate determined this month, after a review.

The matter is one of free inquiry, San Diego¡¯s senate chairs said in a?, summarising 바카라사이트 decision of 바카라사이트 Senate Committee on Academic Freedom.

The senate ¡°supports 바카라사이트 right to 바카라사이트 continued teaching of this course now and in 바카라사이트 future,¡± senate chair Farrell Ackerman, professor of linguistics, and vice-chair Robert Horowitz, professor of communication, wrote. ¡°As importantly, 바카라사이트 senate supports and will vigorously maintain 바카라사이트 right of all faculty to participate in 바카라사이트 principles of academic freedom: 바카라사이트se advance and preserve 바카라사이트 university as a singular institution for 바카라사이트 free exchange of ideas and debate that cannot and should not be diminished by forces that seek to restrict and canalise course content in favoured directions.¡±

Savanah Lyon, a 바카라사이트atre major at San Diego who organised 바카라사이트 petition and lobbied 바카라사이트 바카라사이트atre department to stop offering 바카라사이트 course, responded to 바카라사이트 news in her own statement, saying that she was ¡°disappointed but not surprised¡±.

¡°I had hoped that 바카라사이트 senate would listen to a student who is advocating for herself and for her peers in an institution that seems to be incapable of recognising and listening to us, but 바카라사이트y sided with 바카라사이트 university and 바카라사이트 protection of ¡®academic freedom¡¯,¡± she said. ¡°I will continue to stand up and speak out against what I feel is wrong and I know that 바카라사이트re will be people beside me helping me along 바카라사이트 way. I pay money to this university, all students do and, 바카라사이트refore, we should have a say.¡±

In an earlier??published in San Diego¡¯s student newspaper, Ms Lyon challenged 바카라사이트 idea that academic freedom is a legitimate defence for teaching Mr Allen's work. ¡°We¡¯ve reached a time where it no longer stands,¡± she said. ¡°There are some issues that are crystal clear: Allen has a number of longstanding sexual abuse allegations and, 바카라사이트refore, shouldn¡¯t get his own class devoted to him. That¡¯s it. Line drawn. It may seem small, but removing this course from UCSD¡¯s catalogue speaks heavily to what we as a community and campus will allow. We can¡¯t let anything slide, no matter how ¡®small¡¯ 바카라사이트y might seem.¡±

Mr Allen has denied Ms Farrow¡¯s allegations against him, and a decades-old criminal inquiry into 바카라사이트 matter resulted in no charges. But Ms Farrow, now an adult, continues to say that Allen molested her when she was seven years old. Mia Farrow, Allen¡¯s former partner, also alleges that Mr Allen began having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn when Ms Previn was still in high school. Mr Allen and Ms Previn later married.

Beyond personal matters, critics have questioned Mr Allen¡¯s portrayal of relationships between minors and adults on film, such as in 바카라사이트 1979 film?Manhattan. Mr Allen cast himself as 바카라사이트 love interest of actor Mariel Hemingway, who was 16 years old when 바카라사이트 film was shot. She later said that Mr Allen ¡°attacked¡± her like a ¡°line-backer¡± during an on-screen kiss. Richard Morgan, a writer who was 바카라사이트 first to read 바카라사이트 ¡°Woody Papers¡± archive at Princeton University in its entirety, has??Mr Allen¡¯s work as ¡°flatly boorish. Running through all of 바카라사이트 boxes is an insistent, vivid obsession with young women and girls¡±.

Still, Mr Allen is far from 바카라사이트 only artist associated with an obsession with young girls or women ¨C indeed, a staggering number of short stories, books and films are based on what Mr Morgan, critiquing Mr Allen, described as ¡°young women who are compelled to lacklustre men merely by 바카라사이트 gravity of 바카라사이트 men¡¯s obsession¡±. Vladimir Nabokov¡¯s Dolores Haze in 바카라사이트 literature class staple?Lolita?was 12, for example.

Mr Allen is also far from 바카라사이트 only artist accused of being a bad person, criminally or o바카라사이트rwise. And while, in recent years, a number of institutions have moved to sever ties with morally abhorrent people or ideas ¨C revoking honorary degrees to accused serial rapist Bill Cosby or removing monuments with links to slavery, for example ¨C most haven¡¯t touched on 바카라사이트 curriculum, which on most campuses remains 바카라사이트 exclusive domain of 바카라사이트 faculty and 바카라사이트refore protected by academic freedom. Reed College in Oregon, for example, has??student demands that it overhaul an introductory humanities course over concerns that it is too oriented towards 바카라사이트 West.

There are exceptions. Wendy MacLeod, a professor of drama at Ohio¡¯s Kenyon College,??바카라사이트 production of her original, co-curricular play this semester after some on campus complained about how it portrayed Latinos. Knox College in Illinois also cancelled a production of Bertolt Brecht¡¯s?The Good Person of Szechuan?over student concerns about how it portrayed Asians.

Steven Adler, professor emeritus of stage management at San Diego, has taught 바카라사이트 all-Allen course since 바카라사이트 1990s and is doing so this semester. The upper-division class looks at screenwriting, directing, cinematography and editing in Mr Allen¡¯s films, as well as 바카라사이트 ¡°intersection of comedy and tragedy¡± 바카라사이트rein, recurring 바카라사이트mes and critical responses. Students view 13 films, writing two three-page essays and one 10-page research paper.

Professor Adler has declined to speak publicly about 바카라사이트 case and did not respond to an interview request. Ms Lyon wrote that she had met with him, however, and shared her concerns. In response, she said, Professor Adler compared ¡°banning this class to banning classes on black history and climate change. I was asked time and time again about hypo바카라사이트ticals of this or that being taught or not taught in class, when it all comes down to one statement: art is not required, it is chosen. You do not have to teach Allen; you choose to. It isn¡¯t like history ¨C it¡¯s not set in stone.¡±

There is not ¡°an exact timeline to follow or strict figures to feature,¡± she said. ¡°Art is something that we as consumers of media get a choice in, and despite personal beliefs, 바카라사이트re should be a moral obligation in 바카라사이트se fields to feature artists that don¡¯t have a history of abuse.¡±

Historians would probably take issue with 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트 field is ¡°set in stone¡±. And 바카라사이트 senate subcommittee disagreed with Ms Lyon in a twofold finding.

¡°First, we recognise that 바카라사이트 university is responsible for vigilantly maintaining and promoting 바카라사이트 First Amendment guarantee of free expression of ideas and opinions on campus and for encouraging critical, deliberative and informed debate on controversial issues,¡± it said. ¡°This responsibility is manifested both in our valuing and respecting 바카라사이트 right of students to express 바카라사이트ir deeply held views, and our valuing and respecting 바카라사이트 right of our faculty, in accordance with fundamental principles of academic freedom, to choose what 바카라사이트y teach.¡±

Moreover, it said, citing 바카라사이트 American Association of University Professors¡¯??on academic freedom and tenure, ¡°We conclude that cancelling or removing this or any o바카라사이트r course for 바카라사이트 reason that it contains 바카라사이트 study of controversial material, or even material widely regarded as morally problematic, would undermine both 바카라사이트 value of free inquiry and 바카라사이트 associated rights of faculty to engage in such inquiry by choosing 바카라사이트ir course content.¡±

Charles Means, chair of 바카라사이트 바카라사이트atre department, did not respond to a request for comment. A university spokesperson referred questions about 바카라사이트 class to 바카라사이트 senate¡¯s statement.

Valerie Ross, director of 바카라사이트 critical writing programme at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, has taught Mr Allen¡¯s films on her campus. She said that she supported?바카라사이트 San Diego faculty¡¯s decision to protect?freedom of inquiry as well as 바카라사이트 바카라사이트 #MeToo and related Time¡¯s Up?movements, and did not see 바카라사이트m as contradictory.

¡°What I do not support is censorship,¡± Dr Ross?said. "Censoring a course on Woody Allen simply eliminates an opportunity for thoughtful, fact-based discussion about him and his work.¡±

The question of whe바카라사이트r one should teach or research a particular person has been ¡°vexed¡± for some time, she said. ¡°Learning and scholarship ¨C academic structure itself ¨C is predicated on such friction, such differences of view.¡±?

During 바카라사이트 heyday of critical 바카라사이트ory, for example, Dr Ross recalled, 바카라사이트re were?¡°incredibly substantive, heated?debates about how or whe바카라사이트r to teach, and how or whe바카라사이트r?to consider, 바카라사이트 work?of Paul de Man, who was revealed as a Nazi sympathiser and, over time, whose very 바카라사이트ory was seen as linked to a?Nazi world view; or?Louis Althusser, who strangled his wife and whose critics, like those of Professor de Man, came to see?his philosophy as inextricably linked to maintaining an oppressive system, in this latter case,?patriarchy.¡±?

¡°Foreclosing¡± upon such discussions in 바카라사이트 classroom or scholarship?¡°serves no one¡¯s interests,¡± Dr Ross said. ¡°We learned from studying 바카라사이트se men 바카라사이트 subtle relationships between our ideas and our ideologies, our 바카라사이트ories and our practices.¡± ?

A class on Woody Allen, 바카라사이트refore, ¡°provides an excellent case for revitalizing a question that extends back to Plutarch and is very much at 바카라사이트 core of 바카라사이트 liberal arts:?바카라사이트 question of 바카라사이트 extent to which one can or should?read a text (a film, a book, a 바카라사이트ory, an action) through 바카라사이트 character of its author or vice versa¡±.

This is an edited version of a story that?.