Tuesday, February 24, 2009

UNC Wilmington Bans The Century Project

In a stunning display of ignorance, the Provost of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has banned all photos of females under the age of 18 from being displayed as part of Frank Cordelle's The Century Project exhibition, scheduled to begin next week. The University is the only organization to ban any of the photos in the 18 year history of the project.

It has been reported that the ban took effect after a complaint was lodged by someone in Oklahoma.
What does the book's publisher think of the ban? Dr. Paul Rapoport of Heureka Productions states, "UNCW was misinformed about The Century Project. It should have done some easy homework, to learn what the Project is and does. The Project has captivated and helped tens of thousands of people."

"What about the University's prior commitment to The Century Project?" asks Dr. Rapoport. "And freedom of expression and inquiry? Also, by banning all the photos of the under 18s, the University indicates they may be pornographic or illegal, which they aren't. That's unjust.

"UNCW's unnecessary censorship does violence to The Century Project. It's deplorable, coming from a university."

1 comment:

Paul Rapoport said...

Articles from UNCW itself

THE MAIN STORY:
http://www.theseahawk.org/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=f4ee2aad-503c-4d11-a14b-eaf6d505ff7c

The Seahawk also printed online and on paper all 14 banned photos and their stories:

PHOTOS:
http://files.theseahawk.org/Century.mov

STORIES (not ideally printed; formatting is lost):
http://media.www.theseahawk.org/media/storage/paper287/news/2009/03/05/News/The-Century.Project.Statements.For.The.Slideshow-3661854.shtml

EDITORIAL:
http://media.www.theseahawk.org/media/storage/paper287/news/2009/03/05/Oped/The-CensorY.Project-3659505.shtml

ANOTHER EDITORIAL:
http://media.www.theseahawk.org/media/storage/paper287/news/2009/03/05/Oped/Intriguing.Or.Triggering-3663973.shtml

STUDENT AND STAFF COMMENTS:
http://www.theseahawk.org/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticleComments&ustory_id=ae84bb4d-feab-40af-b52d-6d609557d5f6#54015556-7394-4eff-8c79-136d6ccdd2c6