Editor’s note – This is the second of a two-part series on porn parties in Isla Vista. Today’s article explores UCSB’s concerns over these parties, sponsored by what it calls “predatory pornography companies.”

Sept. 20 – Tonight, at the last Collegefuckfest.com-sponsored party before UCSB classes begin, very few girls take off their shirts, kiss each other, grope each other or do anything else that makes for wild party footage in the eyes of Micah Coy, a 21-year-old Isla Vista resident and cameraman for Collegefuckfest.com. Some refuse because they said that kind of behavior is degrading, others said the weather was simply too cold for topless antics.

James “Stu” Long, a 19-year old UCSB film studies major didn’t care – like many people at the party – that his face might show up in crowd footage that could later be spliced into a pornographic College Fuckfest video and sold online. He had little sympathy for girls who feel exploited by their appearance in such films.

“If the girls are drunk enough and stupid enough to get on the videos, then that’s what they deserve,” Long said.

Kristin, who would not give her last name or age, refused to take off her fishnet top when cornered by Coy’s camera in the kitchen of tonight’s party house at 6500 Del Playa Dr.

“I’ve got enough respect for myself not to do that,” Kristin said. “At one of their other parties, the camera wouldn’t stop following me around and harassing me.”

When told that funds from College Fuckfest helped pay for the alcohol she was drinking tonight, her attitude toward the company softened.

“It’s hella cool they sponsor the party,” she said. “Let the ho girls do whatever.”

…

UCSB’s administration is less broad-minded about these parties and what goes on at them but has limited ability to control or punish student behavior in Isla Vista and prevent the operation of porn companies like College Fuckfest.

Under the university’s extended jurisdiction policy, UCSB can levy penalties on students arrested off campus for their engagement in violent crime, stalking, sexual assault, sexual harassment or hate crimes. However, there is no university policy against flashing or appearing in pornographic videos.

Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young and Dean of Students Yonie Harris signed an e-mail warning this week sent to every UCSB student regarding “predatory pornography companies” operating in Isla Vista. The e-mail urged students who are contacted by employees of these companies to notify the UCSB Office of Student Life or the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.

“The university is very concerned about these predatory companies that are exploiting our students,” said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang in a statement to the Nexus. “We have taken action to alert our students to the risks they face in taking part in what might appear on the surface to be private parties but in reality are organized, commercial enterprises designed to capture film footage of young people behaving in ways that will help sell pornographic videos. Our foremost concerns are the health, safety and well-being of our students.”

Harris said the university is working with the IVFP to get the addresses of porn companies that have found their way into Isla Vista, to express the university’s displeasure.

“We want to communicate directly with them that, as a campus, we don’t welcome them,” Harris said. “Their presence detracts from the quality of life.”

“They have a right to come here if they choose, but we have a right to tell them we don’t want them,” Young said. “They pose a continuing threat to the community.”

An administration source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the mass e-mail warning “was a great compromise” on behalf of university officials because for public relations reasons, the university had to do something after the Rolling Stone magazine article hit the stands.

“You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t,” the source said. “On the one hand, people would be upset if you did nothing. On the other hand, some people would be upset if you said too much. Now that you have the info, you can make responsible choices.”

While urging porn companies to stop operating in I.V. is a far cry from legal action, Harris said the university will be on the lookout for illegal activity, including the provision of alcohol to minors.

“It is a concern,” said IVFP Lt. Tom McKinny. “We are looking into this. We’re asking the [district attorney] if there are any permit violations being committed associated with these parties, such as providing beer to minors.”

McKinny said the IVFP started putting two and two together after the fact – that officers had been to several of these functions and not realized what was going on “in the back rooms.”

“I think it hurts the reputation of the college and community,” McKinny said. “We will be looking at it. If we can enforce violations we will.”

Beyond the e-mail warning, Harris said the university has no plans to identify students featured in such videos for any sort of punishment.

“Students can make whatever personal choices they want,” Young said, but he is hoping that direct communication with the porn companies will make them want to move somewhere where it’s easier for them to operate.

“It’s important to be able to tolerate things you don’t like,” Young said, “but we’re hoping they’ll go some place where visible officials don’t call them out for what they are. They’re exploiting people for money.”

…

Coy and company leave the party around 12:30 a.m., slightly annoyed that they didn’t get better footage. They cruise Del Playa westbound for a few minutes, unsuccessfully lobbying two more groups of women to remove their tops.

With work wrapped up for the night, it’s back to Coy’s apartment for some drinks.

A passerby on DP spots the light of Coy’s camera.

“Woooo! Girls gone wild! Yeah!” he shouts.

“Why does everyone think we’re from GGW?” Coy said “I hate those guys.”

…

The day after the party, Blair Lindeland, a 20-year-old Santa Barbara City College student who started the online party picture collection at Drizunk.com with Coy, sits in his Isla Vista apartment next to his lizard, Puff. Puff’s camouflaged skin blends in with the tan couch. Unlike Chewy, Coy’s snake that stays in a glass cage in his apartment, Puff roams around the sofa. Blair’s TV is much smaller than Coy’s new wide-screen, but he isn’t working for collegefuckfest.com anymore so he can focus on his classes.

He draws a sharp distinction between Collegefuckfest.com parties and other parties thrown by companies such as Shane’s World.

“We don’t have people having sex in the middle of parties,” Lindeland said. “I can understand why some people are grossed out by it, like whoa, what’s going on here, but I also understand the perspective that hey, cool, there’s two people fucking.”

Lindeland and Coy said the majority of people who attend parties that include live sex end up leaving disgusted and unwilling to come back, which he said is not the goal of College Fuckfest.

“Basically, we just want to throw great parties where everyone has fun,” Coy said.

As far as contributing to a negative image of Isla Vista and UCSB, Coy said that College Fuckfest contributes to it. “But people in I.V. are going to party regardless,” he said.

“The reputation of Santa Barbara is that it has parties,” Lindeland said. “A lot of rich kids go to SBCC just to come down here to have fun in the laid-back ocean party atmosphere.”

Coy’s parents have mixed emotions about his success working for a company that produces porn videos.

“Basically, my dad is really happy I’m supporting myself without doing anything illegal,” Coy said. “My mom is fucking disgusted by what I do, but she’s happy I’m doing well.”

Sarah Coy, 18, is Micah’s younger sister. She doesn’t refer to her brother as any sort of “threat to the community.”

“There are two very specific sides to College Fuckfest,” she said. “There’s the porn side and the party side. Micah is strictly on the party side. The parties are always going to be here – Micah just makes them more fun.”

…

Sharon Hoshida, program director for the UCSB Women’s Center, said the first day after the Shane’s World article ran in Rolling Stone, the center received two calls from local high school counselors who said parents took UCSB off the list of colleges that their daughters were considering.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as an avalanche of calls,” she said. “I think there were two.”

The sexual harassment prevention education program coordinator at the Women’s Center, Judy Guillermo-Newton, said that if there is anything beneficial to come from the publicity these pornography groups are getting, “it is an opportunity to draw attention to the ways women are being exploited.”

Guillermo-Newton said that this type of pornography is the latest escalation of reality-style television.

“It’s definitely a recent development. Reality TV has permeated the country,” she said. “It’s helped make risky behavior what partying is all about, especially in the context of college – that this is where you get a chance to do this kind of stuff.”

“It just seems unfortunate if someone’s been drinking and they do something they regret,” said Paula Rudolph, UCSB’s sexual harassment complaint officer. “I feel bad for them because there are other forces at work, like peer pressure and the excitement of the moment.”

Rudolph said she’s a parent of a college student and of a college graduate.

“You can’t control everything they do,” she said, “even if there aren’t porn companies out there.”

Rudolph said she wants people to know that the complaint center on campus can help people who feel they have been sexually harassed or exploited.

“I hate to see women or men denigrated,” she said, “and then look back and wish they hadn’t done it.”

…

“College Fuckfest discovered I.V. Spring Quarter,” said Eric Negendank, a 20-year-old undeclared junior at UCSB, who runs the web site 40zone.com. “They know they can always get good footage here.”

Coy and Lindeland’s Drizunk.com is not the only Isla Vista-based web site that sponsors local parties and features photographs from Isla Vista parties.

40zone.com, which is owned and operated by residents at 6640 Del Playa Dr., features pictures and movies captured at parties they throw at their house every weekend.

Occasionally, the house accepts money from outside companies like College Fuckfest and Drizunk to throw even larger parties.

“It’s like financial aid for us for alcohol-buying purposes,” said David “Chang” Jurick, a 20-year-old UCSB junior pharmacology major and one of five contributors to 40zone.com.

Negendank said the money paid by sponsors covers alcohol, sound equipment, web site upkeep and fines issued to the house by the IVFP for violating local noise restrictions.

Negendank said that photographs on the 40zone site are mostly of people the house owners know. However, the web site carries a message reminding viewers that if they see a picture they don’t like of themselves, they can request it be taken down.

“We also usually have signs up at our parties that say ‘come see yourself at 40zone,'” Negendank said. “No one seems to mind being filmed for the web site. Most people are excited about it – and not just the guys, the girls too – they’re willing to deal with the intrusion of the camera.”

Negendank said that despite what the UCSB administration might think, one can be a student and party at the same time.

“I’m just a bad student in general,” Negendank said, “but we only party on the weekends. Plenty of people involved with 40zone get good grades in respectable disciplines.”

“Before they were in Rolling Stone, Shane’s World asked us to throw them a party for $600, but they required a bed,” Negendank said. “They said they would bring their own sheets, but no one in the house really wanted the sex on their bed.”

“Anyway,” he said, “lining up around 15 other guys watching a couple have sex seems like more of a frat thing to do.”

Negendank said someone from 40zone contacted Shane’s World after the Rolling Stone article came out to invite them to 6640 DP again, but after the article the company’s offer was less generous – only $200 for expenses.