Speaker retracts 'slander'

On October 25, 1990, Julianne Davis, the National Endowment for the Arts' general counsel, spoke to an audience of 50 on the topic of "Art, Money, and Politics -- The NEA Under Fire." But it was Davis herself who was soon under fire. In November, the American Family Association, charging that the speech was filled with "vicious and malicious falsehood," filed suit against Davis, asking for more than $100,000 in damages for statements Davis made in the speech. In a court-approved agreement reached in Philadelphia's U.S. District Court on May 28, Davis avoided a trial and possible payment of damages by pledging "not to engage in any further publication or utterance" of the contested statements. In her speech at the Law School, Davis spoke at length about the AFA, a conservative political group based in Tupelo, Mississippi that staunchly opposes the NEA's funding of controversial artists such as Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe. In an effort to describe the AFA's efforts against the NEA, Davis referred to a magazine article she had read from Mother Jones magazine. The article, however, actually referred to an ultraconservative religious group entirely separate from the AFA. "The American Family Association . . . is simply a direct mail political action committee." Davis said in her speech, misattributing material from the aricle. "And it has a 24-point political agenda it would like to see obtained by the year 2000 . . . it includes the elimination of democracy, elimination of public schools, [and] advocates that astrologers, adulterers, blasphemers, homosexuals, and incorrigible children be executed, preferably by stoning." As part of the recent settlement, Davis was also required to write letters of retraction to the Law School and Wharton School, and a letter of apology to the American Family Association. "It was not a major issue around here," Law School Dean Colin Diver said Tuesday, acknowledging that he had received and distributed the retraction. "Although it was probably a major issue for the AFA and Davis." Though the court case is now settled, the dispute between the NEA and AFA is far from resolved. Squabbling between the two groups made headlines last week in Washington, D.C., where the NEA is based. On June 4, the AFA issued a press release in which AFA leader Donald Wildmon trumpeted the group's settlement with Davis. The NEA quickly responded with a statement of its own, stating that the AFA press release misinterpreted court testimony and settlement documents on five points, and was "so factually flawed it is near fiction." Although the groups continue to publicly differ on what the settlement stipulates, both sides insist the court case is settled. But the underlying ideological disputes are not likely to end soon.

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