Film censorship pressure ignites interest, confusion

Censorship pressure claims at the University of South Dakota have resulted in widespread interest in a film playing Friday in the Muenster University Center.

“Honors Diaries” is scheduled for public viewing April 10 at 1:45 p.m. in room 216 of the MUC as part of the biennial Women and Gender Research Conference.

“Honor Diaries” deals with honor killings, female genital mutilation, forced marriages and other abuses suffered by women around the world. Some critics of the film believe it is anti-Muslim.

“There is absolutely no reason to silence a movie for a reason that is sort of fake, in my opinion,” Miglena Sternadori, the conference chair, said. “I don’t like it when people use the racism argument to silence something. Because racism or Islamophobia or any kind of phobia or prejudice, and I actually study prejudice, is something very serious.”

Raheel Raza, a Muslim Canadian activist featured in the film, is coming to USD for the Friday screening. Sternadori said she does not yet know who will be hosting the discussion after the documentary, but hopes Raza will be a part of it.

In the first showing of “Honor Diaries,” hosted by the Campus Activities Board, was scheduled to be shown March 22 in the MUC. CAB President Katty McNeal said it was not shown because CAB was “not fully prepared to show it and facilitate the conversation that would go along with the movie.”

The Association for the Advancement for Women’s Rights, which initially wanted to sponsor “Honor Diaries,” decided to select a different movie to sponsor after learning about the controversy. Emily Grode, president of AAWR, did not have a comment.

Cindy Struckman-Johnson, a member of the conference steering committee, said when the committee was discussing the time slot of the new AAWR-sponsored movie, a member of the committee suggested not showing “Honor Diaries” at all.

AAWR is now sponsoring “The Cherokee Word for Water​“ April 9 at 11:45 a.m. in MUC 216.

The Cross Media Council — which is made up of KYOT TV, The Volante, KAOR Radio and Coyote Communications — is sponsoring the discussion to follow the film as a way to promote free speech.

Jesus Trevino, associate vice president for diversity, is also on the steering committee. He said their meeting about the film was primarily focused on the discussion following the movie.

Trevino said it is common practice for movies to be followed by a talk. This allows for students and participants to look at all sides of an issue and to “put in some sort of context,” he said.

“There will be no censorship under my watch, I can tell you that,” Trevino said. “It is part of inclusive excellence and inclusive excellence is about exploring issues from all different perspectives, otherwise it becomes indoctrination. And universities are not in the business of that.”

Trevino said he’s confused as to why “Honor Diaries” has become such a big issue.

“It was a group consensus,” Trevino said. “This is why I was taken by surprise, because nobody said ‘no,’ and then all of a sudden we’re being accused of censorship.”

Both Struckman-Johnson and Sternadori, however, said there were several members who were opposed to showing “Honor Diaries.”

“They had proposed that the movie be dropped,” Struckman-Johnson said. “There were about five or six people that were opposed to the movie.”

Sara Lampert, assistant professor of history and another planning committee member, said the claim that there was pressure from committee members to not show the film isn’t accurate.

“I think there is an expectation within an academic community, we will have spirited dialogue about how to talk about and present issues. This is an expectation. It is an expectation that I was trained to have. The sort of principles of the liberal arts university is scholarly dialogue and debate. And that’s what happened in that committee,” Lampert said. “We did our job. These types of conversations are part of academia and organizing events and it’s good that we’re having them.”

Lampert said the committee was merely deliberating if “Honor Diaries” was the best movie to depict modern issues that affect girls and women around the world.

“I think it’s really important that we be clear that this is not a question of censorship,” Lampert said. “It is the job of our university community to think about how best to present and frame issues and topics in a scholarly way.”

Sternadori said she made the final decision to keep the movie, while Trevino said it was a unanimous group decision. Lampert would not comment.

“I expected to be eaten alive, but everybody just went with it,” Sternadori said.

Trevino said one result of all the media attention has been positive.

“This is actually the most bizarre story I’ve actually been associated with, because the movie’s going to be shown,” Trevino said. “I think the result of all the publicity, the misinformation about censoring it, I think we got a lot of interest in the movie.”

Struckman-Johnson said controversy is not a new development for the Women and Gender Research Conference.

“Whether it’s controversial or not, it can be covered in the conference,”Struckman-Johnson said. “The heart of the conference is to give a voice to issues about women.”