Audit Clears Sex Center of Wrongdoing

A legislative audit of Cal State Northridge’s Center for Sex Research released Tuesday found nothing improper in its staging of a 1998 pornography conference, but suggested the university establish clearer guidelines for academic conferences.

In a written response, Cal State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed said he concurred with the audit’s recommendation that the CSU system establish procedures for responding to allegations of research misconduct. He pledged to put such a policy in place by early next year.

In the 26-page report, State Auditor Kurt R. Sjoberg concluded that “the absence of clear standards for staging academic conferences and for judging their academic sufficiency [does] not allow us to determine that this conference lacked academic merit.”

Sjoberg added that most universities around the country lack such standards.

James Elias, the director and founder of the Center for Sex Research, said he felt vindicated by the audit.

“What it comes down to is: Are we a university that can research and study issues--and not only the most popular issues, not only issues with which we agree?” he said.

The controversy over the Center for Sex Research began last year after it co-sponsored the World Pornography Conference with the Canoga Park-based Free Speech Coalition--the nation’s largest adult industry trade association.

State Sen. Ray Haynes (R-Riverside) accused the university of using state funds for a “pornography trade show” and asked the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to direct the state auditor to review the center’s books.

The university denied funding the center or its annual conferences, which have dealt with prostitution and transvestism.

Sjoberg confirmed that the university provided no funding for the conferences and found that the pornography event earned the center $43,000, while incurring $22,000 in costs. But he also concluded that Cal State Northridge provided services such as issuing press releases and handling contacts by the media--services Haynes said went too far.

“In my opinion the biggest substantive contribution was the use of [Cal State Northridge’s] prestige,” Haynes said. “The state ought to have some way of dealing with just exactly this sort of thing, so the university can distance itself from activities like this.”

Haynes said he expects the university to create standards and policies on its own, but will draft legislation anyway, “just to make sure.”

Sjoberg said the pornography conference, which included sessions on the history of obscenity laws and the social effects of pornography, was at least partially research-oriented.

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But some of the activities at the conference, including an event entitled “Pornocopia: Our Body of Work--An Evening of Performance by Players in the Field” and the continuous showing of “landmark” porn films, were of questionable intellectual value, he said.

Elias has said he expects to sponsor other conferences in the near future.

Jeffrey Douglas, a 1st Amendment lawyer and chairman of the Free Speech Coalition, said he was pleased the auditor found the center not guilty of wrongdoing, but was dismayed by the implication that standards should be developed to prevent such conferences in the future.

“There’s a tone of implied criticism, that the study of pornography is inappropriate,” Douglas said. “That’s unfortunate.”