SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) Off-campus parties attended by
University of California, Santa Barbara students have been
videotaped for use in pornography films, a revelation that concerns
authorities and social service workers, but was accepted as routine
by their classmates, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The parties in the community of Isla Vista, a seaside
neighborhood where students often share housing, were taped by two
Isla Vista residents, who then sold their tapes to a Los
Angeles-area porn company, the Santa Barbara News-Press reported.
The paper did not identify the videographers or the porn company.
Michael Young, UCSB student affairs vice chancellor, said the
college, which carries a ``party school'' reputation, can do little
but warn students and hope they make the videographers ``feel so
unwelcome, they'll just leave.''
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department says the practice
appears legal, but is investigating.
Employees at the Isla Vista Teen Center, which serves about 100
neighborhood children, are worried.
``We know that when there are high levels of alcohol and drug
use and adults participating in porn, it's not long before kids
are, too,'' said Mike Foley, director of YMCA Youth And Family
services, which runs the center.
The reaction was different from the student population, the
newspaper said.
``If I was next to a girl and she flashed the camera, I'd want
to buy the video. I really don't think it's a big deal,'' UCSB
student and Isla Vista resident Tyler Wilson said Friday.
``If I saw it, I'd like, leave. But it's an industry,'' said
Meghan Smith, a member of the Kappa Gamma house a few blocks from
the beach. ``The girls are there by choice. It's not my problem to
do anything about.''
Emily Preiss, a UCSB senior who lives in an Isla Vista
apartment, said it makes good business sense.
``Even though I don't respect (the videographers), they had a
good idea,'' she said. ``Sex sells, and this is the place to be in
that field. You're going to get a lot of stuff. ... They get the
girls wasted, (the) girls do stupid things.''
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)