Racial Slurs, Vulgar Language Cited : Teacher Vows to Sue After Class Play Canceled

An administrator’s decision to cancel a drama course and stop production of a play because of the script’s vulgarity and racial slurs has sparked protests and the threat of a lawsuit.

Alan DiBona, an instructor for the San Diego Community College District, lost a final appeal last week to the district’s Board of Trustees to reinstate his drama course. The class was canceled June 16 on orders of Robert Matthews, president of the Educational Cultural Complex, where the class was being held.

“The cancellation of the class was a violation of our First Amendment rights,” DiBona said Wednesday. If the class is not reinstated, he said, he will file a civil lawsuit by August against Matthews and other college district administrators.

Matthews canceled the Dennis McIntyre play, titled “Split Second,” because of what he termed “distasteful language and a display of bad taste.”

The play explores the conscience of a black police officer who kills a white car thief after the thief uses racial slurs to insult him. The play has been performed by professional theater groups in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, DiBona said.

DiBona’s attorney, Laura Halgren, said: “Certain things, like extreme profanity, are not protected by the First Amendment; this language does not come close to extreme profanity.”

Halgren is requesting that the students receive class credit for the canceled course. The class started June 9 and was to continue through August, with the first performance scheduled July 19.

The students are still rehearsing the play and plan to perform it at a local theater in August if Matthews does not reinstate the class, DiBona said.

Matthews said that in addition to vulgar language in the play, he and others opposed the racial slurs.

“This is an educational institution,” Matthews said. “We are not carpetbaggers. I found the play to be in bad taste for an educational institution.

“I had numerous complaints about the play from students and staff. I had ample input from other individuals before I made my decision.”

However, Rhea Rodgers, 28, who is in the play but is not a community college student, said, “This type of language is relevant to the people in this setting. It portrays the central spirit that is necessary to the play.”

Matthews said he did not consider his action to be censorship and noted that the cancellation of the drama class was not based on his opposition to the play. “The real factor in canceling the class was that there were only three students enrolled,” he said.

DiBona said that 15 students were on his class roster, but that all the names did not appear on official forms because the class had been canceled when the students went to register.

“I have all the names of the students on my roster,” DiBona said. “This is just an excuse to use when we go to court.”