Every day that Student-Run Television is off, station co-Manager Andrew Tess is moving closer to the action he called his “last resort” months ago.
“We’re looking for legal means to sue,” he said. “I have several interested parties. While I’d like to exhaust all other options university-wise first, but who knows where that will go, so this is an avenue I’m agressively pursuing.”
Particularly, Tess said he is in contact with the American Civil Liberties Union, but is also searching for more pro-bono law services.
Now that the new station charter, which did not include requirements handed down by acting Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Life Gary R. Ratcliff, has been passed by the A.S. Council and the station has not been reactivated, Tess said he is especially frustrated.
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson made it clear to Ratcliff that the university would never allow “graphic depictions of sexual activity involving nudity” on its channels. The charter, however, did not include a ban on such depictions or a program review board for prescreening programs to make sure they follow charter rules.
“I believe that we should make clear to the A.S. and the campus that the administration will not permit the transmission of pornography over its broadcast channels, and that we should do so earlier rather than later,” Watson stated to Ratcliff on Nov. 15 in an e-mail obtained by the Guardian through a California Public Records Act request. “We should couple the statement with one that indicates that the [A.S. Council] … has open to it the ability to broadcast any material it wishes from and over broadcast and transmission facilities not associated with UCSD.”
The university’s steadfast position on nudity perplexes Tess, who said administrators are illegally singling out the student-run channel.
“If they don’t allow that kind of nudity on SRTV, that means they should ban ‘Real Sex’ on HBO, which shows on university cable channels,” he said. “It’s clearly illegal that they are discriminating toward one group.”
The council is trying to steer clear of legal matters, according to A.S. Vice President of Academic Affairs Harry Khanna, who is also a member of the SRTV task force that rewrote the station’s charter.
“The A.S. has other things to worry about than legal challenges,” Khanna said. “If there were a lawsuit, we’d stay way the hell away from it.”
In addition, the council’s actions have not made it legally liable, according to Khanna. Although the council did initially shut down the station in November, it is not the entity that is keeping the station off the air, he said.
“I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think anything we’ve done can be construed as or is illegal,” Khanna said. “But if students want to bring on a lawsuit, that’d be their prerogative.”
Tess, Khanna and A.S. Commissioner of Communications Soap Chum will restart negotiations with Watson and Ratcliff in the coming week. The outlook, however, is still uncertain, Khanna said.
