Rictor

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UCSB's administration is less broad-minded about these parties and what goes on at them but has limited ability to control or punish student behavior in Isla Vista and prevent the operation of porn companies like College Fuckfest.


Under the university's extended jurisdiction policy, UCSB can levy penalties on students arrested off campus for their engagement in violent crime, stalking, sexual assault, sexual harassment or hate crimes. However, there is no university policy against flashing or appearing in pornographic videos.


Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young and Dean of Students Yonie Harris signed an e-mail warning this week sent to every UCSB student regarding "predatory pornography companies" operating in Isla Vista. The e-mail urged students who are contacted by employees of these companies to notify the UCSB Office of Student Life or the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.


"The university is very concerned about these predatory companies that are exploiting our students," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang in a statement to the Nexus. "We have taken action to alert our students to the risks they face in taking part in what might appear on the surface to be private parties but in reality are organized, commercial enterprises designed to capture film footage of young people behaving in ways that will help sell pornographic videos. Our foremost concerns are the health, safety and well-being of our students."


Harris said the university is working with the IVFP to get the addresses of porn companies that have found their way into Isla Vista, to express the university's displeasure.


"We want to communicate directly with them that, as a campus, we don't welcome them," Harris said. "Their presence detracts from the quality of life."


"They have a right to come here if they choose, but we have a right to tell them we don't want them," Young said. "They pose a continuing threat to the community."


An administration source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the mass e-mail warning "was a great compromise" on behalf of university officials because for public relations reasons, the university had to do something after the Rolling Stone magazine article hit the stands.


"You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't," the source said. "On the one hand, people would be upset if you did nothing. On the other hand, some people would be upset if you said too much. Now that you have the info, you can make responsible choices."


While urging porn companies to stop operating in I.V. is a far cry from legal action, Harris said the university will be on the lookout for illegal activity, including the provision of alcohol to minors.


"It is a concern," said IVFP Lt. Tom McKinny. "We are looking into this. We're asking the [district attorney] if there are any permit violations being committed associated with these parties, such as providing beer to minors."


McKinny said the IVFP started putting two and two together after the fact - that officers had been to several of these functions and not realized what was going on "in the back rooms."


"I think it hurts the reputation of the college and community," McKinny said. "We will be looking at it. If we can enforce violations we will."


Beyond the e-mail warning, Harris said the university has no plans to identify students featured in such videos for any sort of punishment.


"Students can make whatever personal choices they want," Young said, but he is hoping that direct communication with the porn companies will make them want to move somewhere where it's easier for them to operate.


"It's important to be able to tolerate things you don't like," Young said, "but we're hoping they'll go some place where visible officials don't call them out for what they are. They're exploiting people for money."

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Coy and company leave the party around 12:30 a.m., slightly annoyed that they didn't get better footage. They cruise Del Playa westbound for a few minutes, unsuccessfully lobbying two more groups of women to remove their tops.


With work wrapped up for the night, it's back to Coy's apartment for some drinks.


A passerby on DP spots the light of Coy's camera.


"Woooo! Girls gone wild! Yeah!" he shouts.


"Why does everyone think we're from GGW?" Coy said "I hate those guys."

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The day after the party, Blair Lindeland, a 20-year-old Santa Barbara City College student who started the online party picture collection at Drizunk.com with Coy, sits in his Isla Vista apartment next to his lizard, Puff. Puff's camouflaged skin blends in with the tan couch. Unlike Chewy, Coy's snake that stays in a glass cage in his apartment, Puff roams around the sofa. Blair's TV is much smaller than Coy's new wide-screen, but he isn't working for collegefuckfest.com anymore so he can focus on his classes.


He draws a sharp distinction between Collegefuckfest.com parties and other parties thrown by companies such as Shane's World.


"We don't have people having sex in the middle of parties," Lindeland said. "I can understand why some people are grossed out by it, like whoa, what's going on here, but I also understand the perspective that hey, cool, there's two people fucking."


Lindeland and Coy said the majority of people who attend parties that include live sex end up leaving disgusted and unwilling to come back, which he said is not the goal of College Fuckfest.


"Basically, we just want to throw great parties where everyone has fun," Coy said.


As far as contributing to a negative image of Isla Vista and UCSB, Coy said that College Fuckfest contributes to it. "But people in I.V. are going to party regardless," he said.


"The reputation of Santa Barbara is that it has parties," Lindeland said. "A lot of rich kids go to SBCC just to come down here to have fun in the laid-back ocean party atmosphere."


Coy's parents have mixed emotions about his success working for a company that produces porn videos.


"Basically, my dad is really happy I'm supporting myself without doing anything illegal," Coy said. "My mom is fucking disgusted by what I do, but she's happy I'm doing well."


Sarah Coy, 18, is Micah's younger sister. She doesn't refer to her brother as any sort of "threat to the community."


"There are two very specific sides to College Fuckfest," she said. "There's the porn side and the party side. Micah is strictly on the party side. The parties are always going to be here - Micah just makes them more fun."

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Sharon Hoshida, program director for the UCSB Women's Center, said the first day after the Shane's World article ran in Rolling Stone, the center received two calls from local high school counselors who said parents took UCSB off the list of colleges that their daughters were considering.


"I wouldn't characterize it as an avalanche of calls," she said. "I think there were two."


The sexual harassment prevention education program coordinator at the Women's Center, Judy Guillermo-Newton, said that if there is anything beneficial to come from the publicity these pornography groups are getting, "it is an opportunity to draw attention to the ways women are being exploited."


Guillermo-Newton said that this type of pornography is the latest escalation of reality-style television.


"It's definitely a recent development. Reality TV has permeated the country," she said. "It's helped make risky behavior what partying is all about, especially in the context of college - that this is where you get a chance to do this kind of stuff."


"It just seems unfortunate if someone's been drinking and they do something they regret," said Paula Rudolph, UCSB's sexual harassment complaint officer. "I feel bad for them because there are other forces at work, like peer pressure and the excitement of the moment."


Rudolph said she's a parent of a college student and of a college graduate.


"You can't control everything they do," she said, "even if there aren't porn companies out there."


Rudolph said she wants people to know that the complaint center on campus can help people who feel they have been sexually harassed or exploited.


"I hate to see women or men denigrated," she said, "and then look back and wish they hadn't done it."