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Riverside, Ca – from www.highlandernews.org – Porn star Ron “The Hedgehog” Jeremy is coming to University of California, Riverside. It is all part of ASPB’s “Demystification of the Porn Industry,” which will include a screening of the documentary “Thinking XXX” and a question and answer panel consisting of professors involved in the research of pornography, porn actress Brooke Banner, and the legendary Ron Jeremy.

Seeing the posters in the windows of the ASPB offices brings many questions to mind. For example: When asked what they do for a living, how do porn-researching professors respond? On the serious side, though, some of the questions raised could lead to possible criticism of ASPB for their self-described “latest cultural event.”

Some will wonder how much ASPB is paying Jeremy and Banner to attend the panel. As of press time, ASPB members could not be contacted to comment on how much the porn stars are being paid, if at all. But porn stars are not generally known for doing things for free, so it seems safe to assume that they are being paid some amount.

This raises another question. Is paying porn stars to come discuss their careers an appropriate use of student money? ASPB is funded by fees which students pay on top of the educational fee every quarter.

Some might argue that bringing Ron Jeremy onto campus is a frivolous use of these fees, and in these times of financial uneasiness, ASPB should be better stewards of student funds.

This, at first, seems like a legitimate concern. Why should students who are either uninterested in the “side of the industry you don’t see,” or against the industry on moral grounds, be forced to subsidize Ron Jeremy?

The moral argument falls apart very quickly. Porn is an inevitably of a free-enterprise society, and while some abuses or problems may occur, porn is created by consenting individuals.

Some who are offended by porn might be unhappy that their fees are contributing to this event. But ASPB is not in any way contributing to the production of pornography. It is simply showing a documentary and holding a panel to foster a discussion of a societal reality. Those who feel they will be offended by the documentary, which contains “nudity, adult and explicit content,” or by the discussion itself, are not required to attend.

Students pay $12.50 per quarter to fund ASPB, which is only a drop in the bucket of quarterly fees. And for that money, they get Block Party, Spring Splash, and a number of smaller events every quarter.

A question and answer session with Ron Jeremy may not be the most high-browed of ASPB cultural events, but according to the Facebook page for the event, 125 students were planning to attend as of press time, with 143 maybe attending, and the feedback was generally positive.

Criticisms of ASPB’s porn panel that may arise are unfounded. An inside look at “the dirty logistics” of the porn industry will be of interest to some students, and perhaps uninteresting or offensive to others, but no event can please everyone.

As long as a pocket of student interest exists, there is justification, and that pocket seems to exist in this case.

Perhaps Ron Jeremy and Brooke Banner will inspire someone in the audience to make a career choice that will change their life. The job market is looking less and less favorable for recent graduates. For some particularly well-endowed UCR men and women, porn could be the answer.