Landscapes' Gardeners

At a publicly supported college, fear of offending the sensibilities of the local community is apt to lessen student freedom of expression more than at a private institution. Legislative control of funds and tax exemptions exert considerable silent pressure on the complete exercise of academic freedom. At Brooklyn College, a New York City-supported school, this issue has blown up into a public controversy over alleged censorship of the campus literary magazine, Landscapes.

It started in Spring, 1956, when the magazine tried to print two cartoons that the administration found objectionable. One depicted a prostitute with the caption "I got my job through the Brooklyn College Placement Office." The other showed a Greenwich Village cafe--identified by name--with a sign reading "No Men--No Women." Thomas E. Coulton, Dean of Student Life, chanced to see a copy of the issue before distribution. Acting under his "emergency powers," the Dean impounded Landscapes, calling the cartoons "salacious" and "libelous." The magazine was reprinted without the cartoons and distributed in that form.

Shortly afterward, an editorial in the Brooklyn Tablet, newspaper of the Archdiocese, charged that one story in the altered issue was anti-Catholic. Entitled "Last Rites," the story told of a young priest called upon to administer last rites to a beautiful young girl. The priest had a minor moment of weakness, and later felt great remorse and contrition. Dean Coulton came to the defense of the story, although he admitted that many of his Catholic colleagues and friends had been offended. He felt, however, that the whole happening was an "unfortunate incident."

The most important result of the Tablet's editorial was not evident until the next issue of Landscapes approached readiness for the press. Just what happened is unknown--students say one thing, Deans another. Dean Coulton received the copy for the issue before it went to press. He claims the submission was voluntary, editors claim they were pressured into giving it to the Dean for his approval. Coulton, speaking as an individual, not a Dean, told Landscapes' staff that he found the tone of the magazine one of preoccupation with "sex, disease, and abnormality." He suggested that the material go to the Faculty-Student Committee on Publications, which exerts final control over all campus publications.

A subcommittee of the FSCP, consisting of three faculty members, examined the copy and demanded substantial changes--elimination of some stories, considerable revision of others. Landscapes never appeared, as the editors and authors were not willing to comply with FSCP's demands. Little student protest resulted.

The situation today as work goes forward on this term's Landscapes is cloudy and ill-defined. No one is quite sure what will happen. The editors plan to revert to the procedure followed before the controversy: discussion of copy with their faculty adviser. Coulton hopes that students will find something other than sex, disease, and abnormality on which to base their stories--he has suggested printing philosophy papers submitted in courses.

Whatever happens, however, Brooklyn College will take a long time to recover from the censorship of Landscapes. The usually hidden force of community opinion and purse-strings control has come into the open and students know they can write what they please only up to a nebulous point.