I got an email from my university today, from the PG head, telling me about all the upcoming events and research seminars/conferences. There's one in December for students and staff, given by a lecturer from the uni, on a particular photographer and his influence upon contemporary art. Now my Dad is a professional photographer and I thought he might be interested in going so I asked him if he'd ever heard of the chap, and he hadn't. Anyway, upon Googleling the bloke, I discovered his line is actually porn. I don't just mean "It was so immodest it looked like porn", I mean it IS porn, of a very obscene nature.

Not much surprises me these days, but I was disgusted that a) This sort of thing is given serious "academic" consideration and b) It wasn't indicated at all in the title that the photography was of that nature. I've already made formal complaints to the uni (in first year, our lecturer gave handouts of a highly graphic description of a rape, without prior warning, and proceeded to read the whole thing out to us- and this in "Creative Writing") but I don't know if I can do much else with regards to this particular session except avoid it. Any suggestions? Warning others? (Or would that just get more people interested because it's controversial and, of course, dirty?) Letter of protest from me? Thoughts?

I can't believe they wouldn't inform students about the content or who they guy was - I knew that secular universities were hotbeds of immorality and false thought, but I don't have any personal experience with it - that is bad!  Maybe you should start an on campus group called "students against perversion" or something that addresses issues like that and helps bring public awareness to them by notifying the press and parents of what goes on (a lot of students wouldn't bother telling their parents I imagine).  I remember washburn university in Topeka had an outrageous episode with a publicly displayed statue of what was supposed to be a bishop's head and shoulders, but resembled a phallic symbol instead - all the Catholics at the university and the surrouning parishes were so up in arms about it that they eventually removed it - but I think it really helped that it was put in the news as a current controversy.   (Anyway, I think that was what went down) I would imagine that there are conservative students, probably mostly protestant but some novus ordo, that would be willing to help by joining a group and volunteering some time considering how extremely immoral and underhanded it is to do a porno viewing and call it academic.