SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Sexually explicit programming will no longer be allowed on the student-run closed circuit television station at the University of California, San Diego. The UCSD Associate Student Council voted Wednesday night to ban sex videos after listening to students debate the issue. The move by the council came after a pornographic video ran several times in the last few months. Steven York [pictured], who made the video and appears in it, calls the programming “Koala TV.”
The council originally voted to ban sex videos over the weekend, but then declared the vote void on Monday, after members realized they had not followed parliamentary procedures.
Last week, the university television station last week aired lengthy footage of a student having sex with an adult actress, seven months after the show was pulled for racy programming.
“Koala TV,” hosted by 22-year-old University of California, San Diego senior Steve York, returned to the air last Thursday evening. The show had been pulled in March when York stripped naked during a live broadcast even though the student government asked the station to refrain from showing nudity.
A previous episode showing York performing sex acts with an unidentified woman resulted in a flood of calls and e-mails to the station from concerned students and parents.
In March, the Associated Students Council decided that Koala TV was inappropriate. At that time, the council said it would clarify obscenity guidelines for the station and establish a grievance and investigative procedure.
The new student managers of the closed-circuit station, which can only be viewed on campus, decided to allow the show to air provided no students were put in physical danger.
“Our primary mission is to provide students with a means of producing films and productions. We don’t want to stand in the way of creative freedom,” said Andrew Tess, a station manager at UCSD’s Student Run Television and a fifth-year bioengineering major.
The station’s charter allows indecent, but not obscene, broadcasts between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Student leaders are responsible for determining and enforcing the charter. The station’s $8,000 annual budget is funded by student fees.