Cardinal Points

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Ammon Lewis Junior Jessica Bahn reads High Times. The magazine brought complaints from parents and was pulled from campus shelves.

There's nothing illegal about a naked woman.

Nor is there anything illegal about a naked woman donning schoolgirl-styled pigtails and being photographed, staring seductively into the camera and enjoying a cherry-flavored lollipop.

It's also perfectly legal to print these risqué photos in magazines and sell them to consumers over the age of 18.

But replace that cherry-flavored lollipop with a blunt, a bowl, or a bong - and trouble ensues.

So much trouble, in fact, that following a decision by Executive Director of College Auxiliary Services, Wayne Duprey, High Times magazine will no longer be sold at Plattsburgh State.

High Times is aimed at marijuana aficionados, and while the magazine promotes illegal activity, freedom of speech ensures that it is not against the law to write or read about drug use.

But after years of complaints from parents, it was decided to pull High Times from the Campus Express, leaving on the magazine racks an empty space between Penthouse and Playboy, controversial magazines that are still available for purchase on campus.

It began at orientations, where Dean of Students Stephen Matthews heard criticism from parents about the presence of High Times in the Campus Express. He also encountered students during the school year who "wondered why the store spends their money on that."

Over the summer, Matthews took these concerns to Duprey and the Director of College Stores, Jerry Decelle.

"If they aren't all purchased what happens to the other magazines? Why should their money support that? You can't buy cigarettes with Cardinal Cash, but you can buy a magazine that advertises an illegal drug. Those were the points I brought up to Jerry and Wayne to think about and make a decision about. I said, 'these are the complaints I heard, can you have a discussion about whether you think it's appropriate or not,'" he said.

Evidently that discussion concluded that the sale of High Times on campus was not appropriate, and the magazine has since been removed from the racks.

"We promote a healthy lifestyle, we have all these wellness efforts going on yet we're selling a magazine that promotes an illegal substance and activity. The magazine promotes a product that to begin with is illegal and secondly an activity that you could very well be arrested for," Duprey said. "I realize there may be some students who find value in that material, but I think it must be available off campus, much like the decision to eliminate tobacco in years past - it wasn't as if it was banned from the campus."

Continued...

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