UCSD has been teaching a "The Films of Woody Allen" class since the late 1990's. The class is currently going on right now in Winter 2018. It is a class taught by a professor in the Theatre department and it is part of the Theatre department's curriculum.
I have emailed all of the people in charge in an attempt to appeal to their sense of reason, humanity, and morality to stop this class and take it off the books so that no one can teach this class again. I have been met with dismissal, unprofessionalism, and dehumanizing rhetoric.
They believe they have a right to teach this class due to academic freedom. They do not care about the statement it makes to survivors everywhere. They do not care that Woody Allen is on his way out of Hollywood. They do not care that the class is less than 1/3 full, making it an unpopular class that has no reason to be taught. They do not care that there are thousands of other directors who could teach the same film basics that they use Woody Allen to teach, directors who haven't raped seven year old girls.
I am asking you to sign this petition. This class might not be able to be cancelled in its current quarter but it can be taken of the books forever so that no one will ever have to see that pedophile glorified in an educational institution again. Email the Department Chair, Charles Means, at chmeans@ucsd.edu. Email the Professor of the class, Steven Adler, at sadler@ucsd.edu.
Here is a draft of an email that you can personalize:
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is [BLANK] and I heard that UCSD, specifically the Theatre department, is teaching a class on the films of Woody Allen. I am an extremely concerned member of the public. I know many people who went to UCSD and are currently going to UCSD and I don't want to believe that this is the type of curriculum you're teaching there. Woody Allen is not deserving of his own class, he is not deserving of being taught unless it is in a critical analysis class that details the pervasiveness of pedophilia, rape, sexual assault, and gas lighting victims in Hollywood. I stand with Dylan Farrow and with Savanah Lyon when I say that I believe this class should be taken off the books for all future UCSD quarters. There are many other deserving directors who would teach the same lessons about filmmaking and not have such an awful, disgusting personal and professional life. Directors who might actually offer a point of view that isn't incredibly predatory and impossibly white. Movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp should be respected, especially by a department that has so many directors, actors, and artists. Woody Allen is a man who should be in jail and because of the privilege he holds, isn't. Fix your mistake. Take a stand for survivors everywhere. Show them that they are more important. Follow in the foot steps of media makers like Reese Witherspoon, Tessa Thompson, Mira Sorvino, Judd Apatow, and many others. You are a college, you educate each new generation. You owe it to your institution and most of all to your students to be three steps ahead, not ten behind.
Thank you,
[BLANK]
The more emails they get, the more people they have to explain to why they keep this class on the books. I will be getting a physical petition signed at UCSD itself as I campaign on Library Walk. This is hard, thankless work. But it is necessary. It is revolutionary. Help me make a statement to survivors everywhere that THEY come first!
