OVER CENSORSHIP by AUSTIN AIRENSBERG, PAIGE Judicious, Compassionate, and Profes- Initial Charges Fell Through
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fThePHLPIN ? F Li ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ONTHEWB olUMe cdarywwwphillipian.com Volume CXXIV, Number 10 Phllp Academy, Andover, Massachusett ay 18,2001 Former Faculty Member David Cobb POPURRI~DEA On Dismissal, Conviction, Sentence SPARKS TENSION GRANTS PHILLIPIAN INTER VIEW FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE PRISON OVER CENSORSHIP By AUSTIN AIRENSBERG, PAIGE judicious, compassionate, and profes- initial charges fell through. The police YEROK7EES SET K AUSTIN, and ROSS PERLIN sionl. had thought they were not child porn. BACKOKRLESES In the spring of 1996, a 27-year The FBI ruled they were not child _________ ~veteran of the Phillips Academy Eng- Phillipin: What are you doing with porn. The postal experts ruled they Aae yPo dre ad lish department, David Cobb, was con- your time in prison? were not child porn. New England's A ae yPoeue n victed of attempted child molestation leading sex offender clinic said they Problems with Publish- ,and possession of child pornography in DC: For five years, seven days a week, were not child porn. The judge's own the state of New Hampshire. Mr. Cobb I have scrubbed toilets, showers, and senior court investigator said they were e a s ea was dismissed from the faculty follow- urinals, and I have even more years of not child porn. The prison's senior e as ea ing his arrest in the summer of 1995. the same job .. I am not allowed to shrink, just before he retired in 1996,ByMCALRD N During his time at PA, Mr. Cobb teach or use my education or experi- said they were not child porn. MyByICALRD N served as Dean of Students and Resi- ence in any way, because of the prose,- lawyers and their consultants said they Det isddalns ihp dential Life, Dean of Flagstaff cluster cutor's personal issues with,"Phillips were not child porn. Duhto mubisehdin e m a psan ,and Chair of the English Department. Ahhhndovahhh," as he ranted against But the prosecutor in my case ~, standard administrative proceedings, He also coached junior varsity base- the school throughout my trial, depict- devised a special interpretation of the 2001 Pot Pourri yearbook may not ball. ing it as a snob school out of reach of NH' s child porn law with the support - be released until commencement, HMs arrest in the summer of 1995 juror's kids. of a woman from the NH Attorneytouhiwaorgnlystetob and subsequent conviction came as a, But this is a large and complex General's office: any nude or partially . - distributed this week. shock to his colleagues and students. pnison with lots of depression, hostili- nude figure which could be human and Apparently, the 2000-200 1 editor- He is currently serving an eight to fif- ty, frustration, and fighting, rapes, sui- below the age of 18, including ilbadfished its work later than kteen-~year sentence at the New Hamnp- cides, and even an occasional murder. Michelangelo's. cherubs and Ruben's u sual, and in the hopes of still receiv- shire State Prison in Concord. until In a low-profile if not clandestine way, and Botticelli's cupids, and even all ' gtepiedcisoniestth now, he has not had the opportunity to I try to be somebody people respect, unclothed stick figures, since no age *~~o oridrcl oJses h .respond publicly to questions about his find funny, and talk to a lot - some- for them could be determined. No vic- J.LeSaffre/m'e Phillipian company that prints the books. conviction and time in prison for the tunes when it really matters. I try to tims necessary. The jury and the NH Dr. Ronald Takaki addresses students and faculty gathered in Cochran .In spite of the Pot Pourri's efforts PA community. The following inter- intervene when bullies prowl, and help supreme court bought all this - and the Chapel on Wednesday evening.~ to adhere to the original printing view as,/odce by mail, people find ways t deal with family attempted sexual assault, all hundreds *r , 1schedule, the Jostens publishers as well as cell block and guard issues. of charge asapcag.DlbeaigLesas a package.u si eDelibestatiag1W(-i(1 noticed that some of the pages and pic- Philitpian: How did your arrest affect Most prisoners here are iiterate, and individually on ajlmost 600 indictnments tures had not completed the editing your connections with your former stu- while I'm not allowed to teach them to would have taken months that a NH D istinguishe H istonn.akaki sae.A h dieo t ea on dents and colleagues at PA? read or write, nobody bothers me if I jury, appointed for a limited time and i1. A & r 1 i vsae.tthadceoislglcun write for them and read to them. And I nearly finished, didn't have. And the ~ I( D U V U L C I ~ aI m sel, the company deemed the unedited DavidAsoneCbb: alays dos in a have drawn several thousand color NH Supreme Court had notorious cor- SpeaksAbout_________________ pages inappropriate and did not com- crisis, I found out who my friends pencil cards for them to send home to ruption charges of its own, and no time By SHANSHAN JIANG mence printing. were. I was surprised I had so many family or t friends - just as I always to address the several hundred convic- After Jostens' refusal, the initial and very grateful. I still get a lot of reg- answer letters to me with an original tions and 24 issues cited in my appeal. Award-winning writer, renowned but not cognizant of his non-European proofs were sent back to PA where ular mail - and some surprises. drawing. I do stay away now from They sat on it over 3 years, then speaker and professor of Ethnic Stud- heritage. Coincidentally, Takaki admnit- Dean of Students Marlys Edwards, edgy ones, but some of my frends dis- dumped it. ies at the University of California at ted to the assembled guests that he was Student Activities Director and Pot Phillipian: How do you feel about agree. ' .So by NH law I am guilty of pos- Berkeley, Dr. Ronald Takaki offered not "intellectually inclined, but actual- Pourri Faculty Advisor Kevin your dismissal from PA following your '-',session of child porn and showing I personal anecdotes, perspective on ly a suffer." Driscoll, and Director of Editorial Ser- arrest? Do you think Mrs. Chase, as a PhiffiPian: Are You guilty? child porn to a minor - even though the ,imufticulturalism and the American "I may look like a professor now vices Theresa Pease examined the new headmaster, was attempting to set facts are pretty distorted. Not that it narrative, and a mini-history lesson in with my silver mane," he quipped, pages. anrashlyDC: examleor cting I as accsed of ossessng and matters legally since bothaeclsd a well-attended lecture last Wednesday "however, at that time, I had a great Poeuedcae htM.Pae showing child porn to a minor and of felonies, butlIam not guilty of attempt- evening at seven o'clock i the passion for surfing, and I was known who has proofread the publication DC: My situation put her in a very dif- attempted sexual assault. As required ed sexual assault: I was going to show Cochran Chapel. as 'ten-toed-Takaki."' since 1997 when the Pot Pourri print- ficult situation, and at the worst possi- by law, since child porn is always a 'the kid the same seven non-revealing Takaki began his lecture with a In his senior year of high school' ed material tat the administration ble time of year - the opening of federal offense, the FBI and the Postal pictures I showed the other kid, even recollection of his own childhood Takaki enrolled in a religio core considered objectionable, must look ,school. She had no choice but to fire. Service sent their child porn experts to though he initially claimed there were Ispent growing up in Oahu, Hawaii. taught by Dr. Shyji Nishi, the first over all yearbook pages prior to their me immediately, and she handled that evaluate the 500 photos of my art work only five. The prosecutor got the kid to The grandson of Japanese immnigrants Japanese American with a Ph.D. that submission to Jostens. Ms. Pease did very difficult chore with dignity and which the police had eventually been change his story rm5t 5 hts adcido aet ihlmtdeu aaihdete er fi i on not receive the pages in question until grace., I thought she was admirably ordered by the prosecutor to seize after Contnd onPgS oun3 cations, TakakI grew up affected by, life. Astonished by Dr. Nishi's high after Jostens declined to print. -< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~levelof education, Takaki recalled ask- Misty Muscatel '01, layout editor -. - ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ,4 r;,.~~~~~~~~~,.J2 cv1 *~~~~~~~~~~ing his mother, "What is a Ph.D.?" Hs of the Pot Pourri, noted that Jostens r rom High Rise [0- High )cho ohranwrd Ido' nw u also misplaced numerous senior pages - II1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~5I1~~~~~~~~~~~he mu~~~~~~~~~~~~~stbe very smart." Nishi came to and "hundreds of pictures." Such set- - j~ 7 ~~) r .~ ~ erv asTakki' roe mdel .I backs, according to Muscatel, con- A# ~ -'-,-%~~~~rr 63 .iur s to EAcat ion Itws tth oleeofoser m' tribute to the yearbook's late arrival, _____________________________ ~~~Ohio, which Takaki attended at Nishi's as all senior pages and pictures had to CLEM ~~~~~~~~~~suggestion,where Takaki first felt the b eoeadrsbitd - . Richard Pechter '63 By WOOD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~initial"culture shock" that would drive Other members of the yearbook RicardPecter'63changed his do have in common the need to work him to study multi-culturalism--only 'staff attributed the lateness of the year- life. He did not have a mid-life crisis. with and motivate people-neither has five Asian-Americans attended the book in part to the administration's Nor did he .throw his life away in a any real equipment or machinery.