COLLEGE PARK - More than 100 students cheered swashbuckling and sex-crazed pirates in a pornographic film that screened at the University of Maryland on Monday night - a film that, at various points in the past week, state lawmakers and the university tried to suppress.
University administrators, who canceled a planned showing of Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge last week after lawmakers threatened to withhold funding, reversed their position Monday and allowed the screening as long as it included an educational component.
Students packed a campus lecture hall, filling every seat, standing along the walls and sitting on the floor, to hear four experts speak on freedom of speech and then watch the first 30 minutes of the hard-core film.
The entire movie was not screened because students said they had better things to do on a Monday night.
But they had made their point.
"It's not a matter of this being pornography," said Scott Whalen, 20, a junior from Queen Anne's County. "It's a matter of them taking away our right to do something."
Lawmakers said they would ask the state university system to develop a policy on addressing sexually explicit material on campus, stepping back from a proposal last week to cut off funding. Monday, some legislators seemed chagrined by that initial response.
"We're starting to sound more like China or Cuba as opposed to the Free State," said Sen. Richard S. Madaleno, a Montgomery County Democrat.
The film, in scenes shown to students Monday night, elicited giggles and some groans for its hokey sex scenes and corny dialogue. Students seemed more grossed out than turned on. After the first sex scene, they applauded and cheered - congratulating themselves for having seen it in a campus classroom.
Controversy over the movie erupted last week. The university had originally planned to show the 2 1/2 -hour film, marketed as rated "XXX," at the student union Saturday. Administrators backed down after lawmakers protested. But then students felt their right of free speech had been violated.
"We're all very upset that our administration caved to the pressure," said Mary Yanik, a sophomore from Kansas who helped organize the screening Monday night. "We're happy they're standing up for us now. We think they should have done more in the first place."
