I heartily agree with those who assert that we should not censor our selection of course materials in college classes because some student might find some element of the content offensive. Art is often offensive (as Anthony Burgess put it, in responding to controversy over "A Clockwork Orange," "Art is dangerous."). I think there is an important corollary point. Students should be encouraged to voice criticisms of the movies and literature we teach; I trust that most of us do encourage critical responses rather than putting venerated texts on a pedestal. We should encourage the wary student to challenge the values of a potentially offensive work in class discussion, rather than trying to avoid encountering disturbing material or chastizing the teacher for not censoring it. Too often, when students say they are offended, they haven't thought through the issues about what actually offends them (e.g., a student is offended by a criminal or racist or misogynist character who is not being endorsed by the text). Strong student responses are, on the whole, a good thing if we can use them as teaching opportunities and not as reasons to foreclose discussion. Having said that we should not censor potentially offensive material (which is, after all, virtually everything), I would add that we should respect the diversity of opinion in our classes (political, religious, aesthetic) when it emerges. Chris Ames Agnes Scott College ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite