Since the porn controversy broke, the position of these pages has remained consistent: While legal, the broadcast was a strategic mistake that evoked a disproportionate response from the administration. Unfortunately, A.S. leaders cannot say the same.

In an interview last month, Commissioner of Student Services Kian Maleki defended the council’s policy of content neutrality. Of the broadcast, he opined, “I think if you did a poll of students on the issue, not very many would be concerned.”

Yet last week, Maleki blasted the same video as “disgusting” and as “something that I can say with certainty most students would not want to see.” At the time, the A.S. Council also passed a resolution calling the broadcast “inappropriate” and “distasteful.”

Yet if Maleki’s standard of propriety changes from month to month, the council cannot criticize Student-Run Television management for failing to uphold it.

For the benefit of all those involved, the council must pick one stance and stick with it. The issue is either free speech or the ambiguous standard of “political and artistic speech,” but it cannot be both.

More likely, the council’s response is an attempt to pre-empt harsher measures by the administration, as Revelle College Senior Senator Ted McCombs suggested. If so, the language of last week’s resolution should have reflected this, instead of serving as a blanket condemnation of the broadcast.

A little straight talk from our elected leaders is not an unreasonable request.