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Three lecturers at Istanbul university fired over porn project

04 January 2011 [14:21] - TODAY.AZ
A university student’s final assignment which included footage of two people having sex has led to the dismissal of three lecturers at Istanbul Bilgi University, according to news reports.

The school administration fired three lecturers believed to be in charge of the student’s thesis Monday after an interview with the director and the actress of the movie was published in a national magazine. Now the university is receiving criticism for firing the lecturers so quickly, without launching an investigation.

Controversy over the film project arose over the weekend after an interview was published in Tempo magazine. The magazine article reported a university student decided to shoot an amateur porn film as his final project at one of Istanbul Bilgi University’s campuses.

The student said in the interview that the hardest part of the project was not finding the actress or actor to appear in the movie but obtaining permission from his university lecturers. The teachers reportedly considered, in addition to the subject matter of the movie, whether the project had academic merit. After many discussions the student reportedly received permission to shoot the film.

The student named his project “Porn project” and reportedly passed his jury with a D grade, an extremely low grade.

When the interview was published in the recent January edition of the magazine, comments from the media caused speculation that the project was a real porn film and that the university had allowed the movie to be shot on its campus, leading the school to be inundated with phone calls from parents inquiring whether the incident really occurred on site.

As a result, the three lecturers on the thesis jury that had approved the project, one of whom identified himself as Professor İhsan Derman on private channel Dipnot TV, were informed Monday that they has been fired.

‘University bowed to public pressure’

A lecturer from Istanbul Bilgi University who preferred to remain anonymous said the university administration had caved into moral outrage.

“It is a pity that the administration did not follow procedure before making this kind of difficult decision,” the lecturer said, adding that the administration should at least have established an investigation committee and decided on any action after such a step.

According to the lecturer, the bodies responsible for the incident were both the head of the department and the dean who allowed the project to go forward.

“But the rector’s office, which gave the student his diploma, appears to have also approved the project regardless of whether it watched the film,” the lecturer said.

“None of the departments have the right to refuse a project according to their category,” the lecturer said, adding that teachers focused on the academic structure of the thesis, not the subject matter.

The jury should only consider films according to their academic merit, the lecturer said.


/Hurriyet Daily News/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/78993.html

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