PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY, AUGUST 29,1967 PAGR SIX TIlE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY. AUGUST 29. 1987 _ .._.. __ , ... v..... . _ ..., .,,. , I Now Playing a Cinema Guild: Fundament als of By RON LANDSMAN The fundamental questions raised by the arrest of three stu- dents and a faculty member for the Cinema Guild showing of an "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy", motion picture are basic to the role of the university in modern society. The students, Ellen Frank, '68; Mary Barkey, '68, and Elliot Barden, '68, officers of Cinema Guild, and Hubert Cohen, assist- ant manager and engineering English instructor, were arrested after a movie they had selected, "Flaming Creatures," was inter- rupted in midreel and confiscated by Lieut. Eugene Staudenmeier, chief of the Ann Arbor Police Detective Bureau. A large segment of the faculty and most administrators see the Cinema Guild case as one where a few students merely "went too far," and thus must confront the municipal authorities on their own. However, other professors and students see the confiscation of the film, as intrinsically op- posed to the responsibilities of an academic institution. The Cinema Guild case has evolved to include five significant questions: 0 The relationship between the Fund Raising Campaign, warned, University and the Ann Arbor "This type of stuff is going to community; have to stop." * Academic freedom and the President H a r 1 a n Hatcher, responsibility of the university to however, dissuaded the Regents test comtemporary values; from any hasty action, suggesting, 0 The artistic and social value that they follow a 'wait and see"' of underground films; policy, depending on whether the 0 The constitutional question Regents were deemed responsible of search and seizure without due or not. Hatcher's statement, while process of law, and averting adverse Regental reac- * Pornography and censorship tion, criticized Cinema Guild for with or without judicial action. poor taste and vulgarity. The first question-the Univer- "The new art wave is interested sity and its relation to the com- in . . . vulgarization and destruc- munity-was the primary concern tion , like 'Flaming Creatures,' of the Regents and the adminis- tration. At their monthly meet- which goes beyond decency," ing shortly after the incident, the Hatcher said. Regents declined to discuss the Vice-President for Student Af- matter at their public session. fairs Richard L. Cutler knew be- However, at their closed discus- forehand of the planned presence sion later they showed no interest of the Ann Arbor police at the in giving Cinema Guild any legal movie. An architecture professor aid. had complained to the police As the case grew in impor- tance, though, the Regents be- came more concerned. By the middle of February they seemed interested in acting against Cinema Guild. Regent Paul Goe- bel of Grand Rapids, worried about the deleterious affect the< incident would have on alumni A contributions to the $55 Million about the showing of the film. Cutler met with Cinema Guild board members the day before the showing and informed them, "You know you're responsible for anything that happens tomorrow and the University isn't." After the confiscation and arrest the administration issued a statement which attempted to absolve itself of any responsibil- ity for the individuals involved. It left the students to their own devices, saying that they must "accept the responsibilities of citizenship. If a public law is allegedly v i o 1 a t e d, established procedures should be used. ... If a citizen is guilty, he takes the consequences." The administration's refusal to act on Cinema Guild's behalf in- curred the wrath of a number of professors. Speaking at a Law Club seminar on "obscenity and the law" shortly after the Regents discussions and regret-filled mis- first meeting, Prof. Terrence sives. The recently created Civil Sandalow of the Law School said j Liberties Board of the Faculty the administration's inaction was Senate immediately began an ex- "an alarming failure." It showed, haustive investigation into the he felt, "an incredible picture of nature of the Cinema Guild case. someone's understanding of the The Board interviewed Frank nature of the University commun- and Cohen a few days after their ity and the administration's re- arraignment to determine the na- sponsibility to those who make ture of Cinema Guild. Whether, it up." according to Prof. Abraham Kap- Sandalow was not alone in his lan of the philosophy department, protest against the administra- "it is just a group of students try- tion's recalcitrance. Prof. Robert ing to annoy the administration Weeks of the engineering English or a group with serious educa- department, Prof. Daniel Fusfeld tional and cultural goals in mind." of the economics department, Worthwhile Group visiting Prof. Henry Aiken of the The Board decided that the philosophy department, and writ- Cinema Guild was a worthwhile er-in-residence Leslie Fiedler all group and that the members' viewed the series of events with rights had been violated and de- "discomfort" and "strong disap- cided to enter the case as proval." "amicus curiae," a "friend of the The faculty's reaction, however, court." As "amicus curiae" the was not limited to polite panel Board is recognized as an inter- I ---- ..... ..... - ested party and can be involved in the court proceedings. Sandalow and Prof. Joseph Sax, also of the Law School, attorneys for the Civil Liberties Board, filed a brief first in support of the motion of the defense for dis- missal because of illegal search and seizure, and later asked for a favorable decision on the grounds of academic freedom. A few faculty members, despite the actions of the Civil Liberties Board, have been opposed to notj only possible administration in- volvement on behalf of Cinema Guild, but to the actions of Cinema Guild itself. While most such reaction has been limited to letters to The Daily, and panel discussions on the topic, a few have forced the issue farther. Engineering Resolution A resolution of the engineering college faculty condemning Cine- ma Guild was passed largely due to the efforts of one man, Prof. John E. Powers of the chemical and metallurgy department. With only a third of the faculty present, Powers, in an impassioned plea. asked for passage of his motion urging "appropriate action to re- gain some point of equilibrium" between "those outside the aca- demic community who might seek to restrict it and from those in- side who interpret such freedomj as license to go beyond the bounds of common decency." Prof. Robert Beyer of the zoo-1 logy department, answering a let- ter of Powers attacking Cinema Guild, wrote to The Daily, "I would suggest that some thought be given to the role of the Univer- sity in, and the contribution that the University can make to, so- ciety. Society is well able to pre- serve the old customs when they have utility and value. Unfortun- ately, society also seems anxious to preserve old customs which have lost their value. It has been the historic responsibility of the University to question the values of society." In the same vein, Prof. Daniel Fusfeld of th economics depart- ment in a panel discussion on the University and Cinema Guild re- ferred to "the University's right to investigate things now sacred. The University must give maxi- mum play to the area of shaping ideas of the future." Long Procedure For all the noise and commo- tion of resolutions, long and ex- pensive legal procedures remain. Two separate cases are presently being pursued in both federal and municipal courts. Besides the role of the Civil Liberties Board as "amicus curiae," SGC offered bail money for the defendants and were active in a fund raising drive for the defense. The length of the legal proceedings is indefinite. The first stage in the legal pro- cess is a pre-trial examination to determine whether all elements of a crime under the criminal statutes had actually been com- mitted. It is being held in Ann Arbor Municipal Court before Judge Sanford J. Elden. When prosecutor William Delhey at- tempted to submit the film "Flaming Creatures" as a state exhibit, the defense attorneys, William Goodman and D e a n Robb, objected on the grounds that the film had been seized illegally and so could not be in- troduced as evidence. In the fol- lowing two months the prosecu- tion replied and the Civil Liberties Board entered the case as "amicus curiae." Sandalow and Sax, Civil Liberties Board attorneys, sub- mitted a detailed brief explaining the Supreme Court precedents in- volved in illegal searches and seizures. Civil Liberties The Civil Liberties Board brief stated: "A consistent line of re- cent decisions by the United States Supreme Court establishes with abundant clarity that pro- cedures employed to suppress ob- scene materials must contain adequate safeguards to assure non-obscene material the consti- tutional protection to which it is entitled. For whether or not the film 'Flaming Creatures' is found to be protected . . . the mode of seizure utilized here, unless held to be illegal, can freely be used another time to remove from cir- culation any item, however clear its constitutionally protected sta- tus might be. "The Supreme Court has re- peatedly emphasized that any seizure prior to an adversary hearing before a judge on the ob- scenity question is unconstitu- tional . .. a community is not ef- fectively prevented from enforc- ing laws against the exhibition of obscene films. "It simply takes the power to czaro~om over the literary life if the community out of the hand of the policeman, and returns the job of determining the scope of First Amendment rights where it belongs-to a judicial officer." Despite the brief, Elden still ruled that the evidence was per- missible. In doing so, he explain- ed, "The question involves the power of the' state to prevent crimes which take place in the presence of a police officer." # II roque instruments 0 II 0 '' GUITAR STUDIO Classical, folk, electric instruments, accessories, private instruction, repairs, rentals, instruments from around the world 209 S. STATE ST. 665-8001 ext. I1 FOLLOWING TIE CONFISCATION of the film, "Flaming Creatures," by Ann Arbor police, Cinema Guild sympathizers stage an all- night prote,-t at the City Hall. KEEP FREEDOM TT O KIN YOUR FUTURE WITH UPTO VOFF ANN ARBOR'S FRIENDLY BOOKSTORE ett u v v u v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Y v v v v v v v v v v v Y! tt YYYYYYYYYYY]It [ Y Y ][ w Y Y MW it Y M L C w ][ v YY Y w w YY wv' * *- *1 *- *- *! *l *f *1 *1 *4 *1 *f *f *4 *{ *1 *- *I *F *I * it* I *f k- *1 *- *f *f *4 *- faFii ii i ii -K# R>f F FX +K F f F F f F Ki F K F f f ' "fiA >'f+F i Y il i i +fi f>M--K+F+F+Rfi Y- f f Kl Ri-Fts F F+ R i +K F}F Ri F ii !Ri +f s R}i#i fi Ff i +Fi }#ac}oaf> K f +K}i Fi F F Kifii s F +Fi F+F+F+R K +f} /.aR F K+KJ +K F i fi if+f i iii i if f f>i M1 l F+f # fif RY +Fi i K af fi r x r : e. r r r x r r- i r r -r 7 T-T"TT i T T T "T 1 T i T T i 1 T 1 UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES CENTER Proudly Announces A NEW EXTRAVAGANZA IN WEEKENDS SATURDAY NIGHT LOUIS ARMSTRONG IN CONCERT SEPTEMBER' FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 - 9:00 - 12:00 P.M. MIXER . with the Long Island Sound AT FERRY FIELD SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2-9:00 A.M. ROAD RALLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON m 4THE KING AND HIS COURT 'K 'K 'K ,k it "k 4c 'K ,k ,K 'K -K 'K 'K 'K -k it on 40i An authentic rally for both cars and Ford Motor Company. PRIZES WILL motorcycles, sponsored by BE AWARDED. 8:30 P. M. - IN HILL AUDITORIUM LOUIS ARMSTRONG SHOW SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 -2:00 P.M. KING & HIS COURT The FOUR softball players will be challenging one of Ann Arbor's best softball teams to one of the greatest softball games ever! 5:00 P.M. -AT WINES FIELD PICNIC For a perfect Sunday evening join us at an old-fashioned picnic. Food will be sold by the Ann Arbor Jaycees. i ., IiXXi~~::i:S ' I J