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WILLIAMSBURG - College of William and Mary President Gene Nichol gave students the go-ahead this morning to hold the controversial Sex Workers' Art Show on campus next month.In a statement, Nichol said he tried to work with students to hold the event at a venue off the Williamsburg campus.Students were unable to find an off-campus venue, however, and Nichol said the First Amendment and "defining traditions of openness that sustain universities" required he permit the show be held at the college. "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," he said.A Unitarian Universalist church in James City County had considered hosting the show, according to co-pastor Rev. Jennifer Ryu. County law, however, prohibited the church from hosting events that might feature public nudity, she said.The show's Web site says it is scheduled to appear Feb. 4 at William and Mary, followed by a Feb. 5 performance at Virginia Commonwealth University. Rueban Rodriguez, associate vice provost and dean of student affairs at VCU, said today that the show will not be held at the Richmond campus.He cited two reasons for school officials' decision to not host the show: they had not received a request for a campus venue, and show performers violated their contract with the university last year. Rodriguez declined to specify how the contract was violated.The Sex Workers' Art Show features performances and monologues by strippers, prostitutes and other sex workers, with its goal being to "dispel the myth that (the performers) are anything short of artists, innovators, and geniuses."As in the days of Noah....
