Word: witts
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Harvard bought the new shuttle to eliminate overcrowding, according to Peter Witt, general manager of University Shuttle and Fleet Management Services...
That, unfortunately, was not the entire story. Witt's decision to exclude the photos was influenced by a desire to avoid the controversy that might have arisen over the printing of sexually explicit material. "The one thing I do not want to have is the Peninsula and parents calling me and raving at me and saying, 'Why is the sourcebook office publishing pornography?'" Witt said...
...Witt has the right to be uncomfortable in looking at the photos. Mapplethorpe's photos may have been intended to stretch the boundaries of decency. Witt said black students might be offended by the material, and that parents might not want their children to purchase the sourcebooks. His concern for the sensibilities of black students may have been well-intentioned but was also misguided...
...Witt's decision was as gutless as it was wrong because it was not his decision to make. Witt's responsibility is not to avoid controversy or to make editorial decisions on the content of the sourcebook. His position as copyright officer is to secure the requisite permission for reproductions and to produce the sourcebook for the professors. The professors, and not a Harvard bureaucrat, must decide what is fitting for classroom discussion...
Bryson has said he expects to include the article in the sourcebook next year--this time providing Witt adequate time to obtain copyright permission. We expect that Harvard will listen to its professors and not repeat this foolish censorship...