WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — College of William & Mary president Gene Nichol announced to students Monday that they will be allowed to host the Sex Workers' Art Show on campus next month, according to the Daily Press.
Nichol initially urged organizers to find an off-campus venue for the event. Ultimately, Nichol decided that the First Amendment and the "defining traditions of openness that sustain universities" mandated that he allow the show to open on campus.
"My views and the views of others in the community about the worth or offensiveness of the program can provide no basis for censoring it," Nichol said in his statement.
A Unitarian Universalist church in James City County considered hosting the show, but county law prohibited it from hosting events that might feature public nudity, said co-pastor Rev. Jennifer Ryu.
The Sex Workers' Art Show is a touring performance art revue put on by strippers, prostitutes and others in the sex industry. Its aim, according to its website, is to "dispel the myth that they are anything short of artists, innovators and geniuses!"
Other colleges the show is slated to visit during February include Guilford College, Duke University, George Mason University and Indiana University.
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