Complaints began soon after publication. Chancellor Kuhn issued a statement responding to the photographs, explaining that “as is the practice in all universities, there is no prepublication censorship” at UMBC. He observed that “the pictures do not relate to the articles and are presented without comment or interpretation… The pictures do not seem to me to have much to commend them as art or for publication in a student literary magazine at UMBC.” Kuhn surely expected off-campus political response and indeed there was — Baltimore County Councilman Samuel J. Dantoni complained that UMBC was becoming an “institution of pornography.” A few days later UMBC student leaders met with Dantoni, and impressed him; he later stated to a Baltimore Sun reporter that “the publication represented a sincere form of art expression.” President’s office records, Collection 50, announcements, 8.5 x 11.
Statement Concerning the University of Maryland Baltimore County Campus Student Publication Dialogue by Dr. Albin O. Kuhn, Chancellor, 50UMBC-013.
