Arizona lawmakers: No more teachers’ dirty words

Most film studies courses, for example, feature movies that include profanities deemed indecent by the current FCC policy. The same holds true in literature courses and some music classes.

“Traditionally, universities are considerably more open,” he said. The policy “would have to be very carefully tailored. You could bar profanity by teachers, but not in books, films or music that would have considerable value in the classroom.”

If the bill becomes law, it could quickly become obsolete. In a widely watched case, the Supreme Court is mulling over whether the FCC’s broadcast policies themselves are unconstitutional.

The major television networks, led by Fox and ABC, have argued that the FCC guidelines are outdated because viewers today have hundreds of unregulated cable channels at their fingertips and unlimited access to obscene material on the Internet.

The Obama administration has joined forces with the Family Research Council and other socially conservative groups in arguing that families, especially those with young children, deserve to have a few channels guaranteed to be free from nudity and obscenity.

Many fear that the decision, which could be made as early as June, would open the floodgates for profanity and nudity on network television.

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