Tennessee- Who better to talk about porn than one of its greatest practitioners?
That was the thinking of a student group at Middle Tennessee State University. The students on the Ideas and Issues Committee of the Program Council, which brings speakers and other events to campus, wanted to present a debate about pornography after singer Janet Jackson's breast-baring ''wardrobe malfunction'' during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.
''If you want to know about a topic, you've got to go straight to the source,'' said committee chairwoman Liz Beeson, an MTSU junior from Bristol, Tenn.
''The source'' is Ron Jeremy, an actor well-known - well, he's no Tom Cruise, but he does have a big following in certain circles - for what he can do in front of a camera. Jeremy is one of the most prolific male porn actors of all time.
Jeremy and Susan G. Cole, an expert on violence against women who wrote Power Surge: Sex, Violence and Pornography, will debate the merits of porn Oct. 27 before an expected crowd of about 1,000 people at the Murfreesboro school.
But some people think the choice of Jeremy, who is on a tour of college campuses with Cole that will stop at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville tomorrow, is unfortunate.
''There could be a much more intellectually driven debate on the idea of censorship and pornography with someone else rather than Ron Jeremy,'' said Justin Owen, a senior from McKenzie, Tenn. ''Someone who would probably hit on the social issues of censorship, the historical concept and things like that, rather than just ... what will probably be a personal preference.''
Greg Bura, senior regional account manager with Wolfman Productions Inc., the Connecticut-based lecture agency putting on the tour, said Jeremy approaches the topic in an intellectual way. Bura said Jeremy, who recently co-starred in the WB's The Surreal Life, earned a master's degree in special education and taught special education classes before starting his porn career.
Owen, president of a campus group called Raider Republicans - which he said is not taking an official stand on Jeremy's appearance - said he also objected to the $14,000 cost. The Ideas and Issues Committee's annual budget is $22,510.
But Bob Glenn, MTSU's vice president for student affairs, said the money will cover both speakers, including their travel costs, agents' fees and the like. The speakers' fees will total $12,500, while about $1,500 will go to production costs.
Students such as Owen aren't the only people concerned about the program. Glenn said that ''most certainly the university administration disagrees with their choice'' because Jeremy's past is likely to ''distract from any rational discussion that might take place.''
But Glenn said MTSU would not prevent the students from tackling a subject some people find offensive. Once they made their decision, the administration wasn't going to object, he said, because the First Amendment is too important.
''We believe that when the students make their choices, for us to engage in viewpoint discrimination would be inappropriate,'' Glenn added.
And, as Bura noted, ''sex sells,'' leading to expectations of a packed house in four weeks. Beeson said her committee has given out about 300 tickets four weeks before the debate, and publicity, driven by controversy, has started early.
''We don't need to send out any press releases,'' she said.
