Common sense breaks out in the New York artistic community

PLOT: An NYU professor wants to allow one of his film students to make a porno movie for his class. The university's administation, in a shocking display of common sense, tells the student she can't do that. The student, chastened, agrees that this is beyond the bounds of morality and good taste. The New York Times does not write a long story about it. The ACLU is not asked for a comment.

Now that's a story that would never get greenlighted, would it? Yet everything in the first two sentences is true; but the NYT did write a story about it, and the ACLU made frowny faces about the "university acting as a moral censor."

The student, Paula Carmicino, "planned to intersperse 30-second clips of passionate sex with scenes of the couple engaged in more mundane activities, like watching television and reading a newspaper."

"The whole concept of it was to compare the normal behavior of people in their everyday lives versus the animalistic behavior that comes out when they are having sex," she said. There are plenty of "animalistic" things that humans do besides sex: eating, pooping, breathing, sleeping. Funny how they aren't as interesting.

The professor, who goes by the improbable name of "Professor de Jesus," was foursquare behind the student. No one would imply that the professor or the students had anything other than noble motives for supporting their fellow artist, though they would have been present for the filming of the "graphic" sex.

The spoilsport administration, through its toady lacky running-dog book-burning soul-destroying mouthpiece Richard Pierce said that

...the school had long had an unwritten policy that student films should follow industry standards and was now considering putting that policy in writing. defending [sic] the university, he said N.Y.U. was considered very broad-minded on questions of artistic freedom, but had to draw the line at videotaping real sex before a class of students. He compared that to a filmmaker committing arson for a movie about firefighters.

"Someone give me a list of universities that allow sex acts in the classroom," Mr. Pierce said. "We're not going to be the first."

He also praised Ms. Carmicino as a "serious and valued" student. "The history of art is replete with examples of artists producing great art under limitations," he said.

Blasphemy! Surely this philistine knows that great art can only be created under unfettered freedom! I don't want to hear about Bernini or Bach and their "limitations." This is the 21st century, man!

One other priceless detail: NYU's president is named "John Sexton." Truly, you can't make up stuff like this.