Illinois- Kevin Coppinger knows that inviting one of the most well known porn stars in the world to talk about the adult film business at school might make some people nervous.

But, then again, that’s the whole point.

“We’re hoping Ron Jeremy will be interesting and get a lot of people on both sides of the aisle,” said Coppinger, a graduate assistant for the Campus Activity Board at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The student-run board, which schedules social and cultural programs at SIUE, this year has invited Jeremy to square off against Michael Leahy, a former sex addict-turned-outspoken pornography critic.

The event, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 29 in the Meridian Ballroom of the Delyte W. Morris University Center, will feature a two-hour debate and Q-and-A about the merits of pornography, who it benefits and whether it’s degrading to women.

Coppinger said the idea is to offer students, faculty and staff a chance to hear both sides of a potentially testy issue, something that benefits the college community.

It doesn’t hurt, he said, that the debate could be controversial, although so far the response has been muted since the school has been on winter break.

Jeremy, credited with 1,800 adult films, has become one of the most recognized in the business, he said.

“We’re hoping people will see the name and see the subject and come out,” said Coppinger, a graduate student in the SIUE School of Business.

University spokesman Greg Conroy also said he hasn’t heard of concerns and expects the debate will be embraced by the college community.

It’s a point echoed by Sister Claudia Calzetta, the director of Catholic Campus Ministry at SIUE, who called the discussion “a good educational tool” even though she is adamantly opposed to pornography.

“It’s controversial, but there are a lot of things in this world that are controversial,” said Calzetta, who has worked at SIUE for seven years.

She said discourse is part of the university’s mission.

“That’s what a college should do. This is an institution of higher education,” she said. “I’m all for growth that’s going to elicit some good thinking.”

The debate, which was approved by the SIUE Student Government, is one of three at the school this winter and spring organized by Wolfman Productions Inc., a Southbury, Conn., company that books mostly pop culture celebrities to speak at college campuses and other venues.

The lineup includes ex-“Double Dare” host Marc Summers, Hollywood gossipmonger Perez Hilton, the cast of “Napoleon Dynamite,” participants of MTV’s “Real World” and Ken Davitian, who played burly producer Azamat Bagatov in “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

But the real earner are the pre-packaged debates in which two speakers discuss controversial issues, from evolution and drug usage to media fairness and pornography, said John O’Marra, a regional account manager for Wolfman.

He said the company books 400 of the debates each year, which cost groups $7,500 to $13,000 depending on the speaker.

(Jeremy and a minister, for example, had the same porn debate last month at University of Missouri-St. Louis.)

O’Marra said the debates are fresh because most of the discussions are prompted by audience questions, which often present myriad sides of an issue.

“The students always surprise us,” O’Marra said, adding that the company is careful to book speakers and handle questions on both sides.

SIUE last year booked the marijuana event — it featured former Drug Enforcement Agency agent Robert Stutman and Steven Hager, editor of the magazine “High Times” — and about 650 students and staff turned out.

O’Marra said the drug debate would return later this year, along with a separate event on religion. SIUE has not announced the dates of the discussions.

Coppinger said he and the board acknowledge that the talks could ignite controversy.

“We’re waiting for that,” he said. “We’ll see.”

Conroy, the university spokesman, said the discussion, while potentially objectionable, is part of the open discourse that should happen on college campuses.

“It may be distasteful to some people,” he said. “But it’s freedom of speech.”