University of Maryland offered porn as drinking alternative

An attempt to distract university students from late-night drinking with a feature-length porn movie was blocked yesterday after state senators threatened to cut funds for the college.

The two-and-a-half-hour Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge - the most expensive pornographic film ever made, at a cost of $US10 million ($14 million) - would have been shown at a University of Maryland student union theatre tomorrow.

Organisers at the College Park campus, 16km north of Washington, had championed educational aspects of the screening, with health group Planned Parenthood planning to hold a presentation on safe sex practices beforehand.



The event was also previously seen by university officials as an "alternative to late-night drinking and other dangerous activities,".

Republican state senator Andy Harris, however, proposed an amendment to the state budget to deny millions of dollars in funding for any educational institutions that screen a porn movie. Mr Harris said he had been "shocked and dismayed" to hear the college was going to screen the movie, and denounced what he described as the "dangers of pornography.''

"I am pleased to know that the university did the right thing and canceled this movie. However, I remain concerned that they do not have a policy prohibiting this," the senator said in a statement after the university reversed its decision.