The Rev. Brian J. Shanley,Providence College's new president, calls the popular play "morally objectionable" and says there are better ways to work toward preventing violence against women.

02:05 AM EST on Friday, January 20, 2006

BY TOM MOONEY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- For four years, Providence College tolerated student productions of The Vagina Monologues. No more.

The Catholic college's new president, the Rev. Brian J. Shanley, announced Wednesday in a letter on the school's Web site that he had banned the "morally objectionable" performance, confirming that the provocative and internationally successful play still stirs controversy 10 years after it premiered off Broadway.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Father Shanley said that while the play -- a collection of women's stories about their experiences of sexuality and abuse -- raises important issues about violence against women, it has no place on a Catholic college campus.

"When you devote resources and space and, if you will, sanction a work of art, there are discussions on the merits of that art. And on a Catholic campus the lens in which you do that is different than it would be" at a public institution.

Father Shanley said what he found most objectionable in his several readings of the play (he has not seen the performance) was a monologue in which "the alcohol-fueled seduction of a 16-year-old girl by a 24-year-old woman is described as resulting in a 'salvation' and 'a kind of heaven.' "

"What is thus characterized in traditional religious language is instead abusive, demeaning, exploitative, and morally wrong . . ."

Father Shanley's decision to ban the play from campus is "horrible news," said senior Erica Rioux, who was coordinating this year's production. "I feel very upset about it. I just feel this really sets a negative precedent for women at PC."

The play is performed annually around Valentine's Day, or V-Day, as part of a national effort to raise money and awareness on college campuses about violence against women.

Last year, the school's three sold-out performances raised $1,926 for the Sojourner House women's shelter and SOAR (Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships).

This year, similar productions are scheduled on 1,050 college campuses around the world, said Susan Swan, a spokeswoman for V-Day, the supporting nonprofit organization based in New York City which works to stop violence against women.

According to the V-Day Web site, four Rhode Island colleges will host Vagina Monologues performances this year: Roger Williams University, the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and Bryant University.

The Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic organization, has in recent years campaigned against the play at Catholic colleges. According to its Web site, 28 other Catholic colleges plan to host the play this year

The society reports that its campaign has had an impact. Last year, Monologues performances occurred at 27 Catholic colleges and universities, compared to 29 in 2004 and 32 in 2003.

Loyola University in New Orleans was among the Catholic schools that hosted the play last year while acknowledging the controversy surrounding it.

In a newspaper story, Loyola president, the Rev. Kevin Wildes said: "There are people who say that the play has no place on a Catholic campus. But this position misses the reality that the play has provoked a good deal of conversation among women and has helped them to name the dehumanizing attitudes and behaviors which reduce them to secular objects."

Asked to comment on Father Wildes' remarks, Father Shanley said: "I would argue you can listen to these voices and learn by them without putting on the production."

Swan says each year a handful of performances are canceled. But overall the play, and its message, spread.

"The proof is in the result and what has happened with the play," she said. "It has become an internationally recognized activist piece," translated in 45 languages . . . ."This play has struck a chord with people and opened up a dialogue about the violence against women."

Father Shanley said the issues the play tackles are worthy of discussion on a Catholic college campus: "All members of the campus are free to read, study, and discuss the play in various settings, especially the classroom." But the performance, he said, cast indignity on female sexuality.

". . . Far from celebrating the complexity and mystery of female sexuality, The Vagina Monologues simplifies and demystifies it by reducing it to the vagina. . . . In contrast, Roman Catholic teaching sees female sexuality as ordered toward a loving giving of self to another in a union of body, mind and soul . . . . "

The news of PC's ban on the play wasn't entirely surprising.

For weeks, Father Shanley had been talking with student coordinators and weighing a decision.

After her first meeting with Father Shanley, Rioux thought the play would still go on but without the school's support; a situation similar to last year when PC administrators prohibited students from advertising the play but still provided a room for its performance.

"But as the weeks unfolded, I was having trouble finding a room," Rioux said, "and when I went to [Father Shanley] and he didn't respond, I started getting suspicious that it wasn't good news."

Father Shanley's decision came just a day after students returned to PC for the spring semester. He said he expected it would provoke much debate as more people learned of it.

Meanwhile, he said, the best way for the college to work toward preventing violence against women was to strengthen its commitment to its annual S.A.V.E. (Sexual Assault and Violence Education) Project, a week of educational presentations that culminates with a "Take Back the Night vigil."

Hopefully the event can be a fundraiser as well, he said.

"I see Project S.A.V.E. as something everyone can enthusiastically wrap their arms around, where the V-Day celebration has been very polarizing. The overarching goals are certainly laudable. The question is: What is the best way on a campus like this for uniting people? For me it's not The Vagina Monologues."

tmooney@projo.com/277-7359