University of Michigan students came out in droves to support the film “American Sniper” after the school reversed its decision to cancel a showing of the film.
The on-campus movie screening was initially canceled last week by the university’s Center for Campus Involvement after 300 students and faculty members signed a letter in protest of the film. However, after a competing petition circulating across campus accused the university of censorship, the campus organization reversed its decision.
The university’s vice president for student life E. Royster Harper called the original cancelation a “mistake.”
While the film screening went on as planned as part of the UMix late night activities series, the school hosted an “alternative” screening of the PG-rated film “Paddington” in a separate location on campus to provide “additional options” for students made “uncomfortable” by the film based on the career of U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.
“American Sniper” was screened Friday April 10 to a crowd of almost 200 students, according to Campus Reform. Not entirely unsurprisingly, “Paddington” drew a crowd of less than 10 individuals.
“Sniper” was the highest-grossing movie of 2014, after all.
Director of the Office of Public Affairs and Internal Communications for the university Rick Fitzgerald admitted that the school “will probably be a bit more thoughtful and careful about the movies [it selects]” from now on.
“If you look at the movies that have been shown this year, ‘American Sniper’ is a little out of the mix,” he explained. “This was a more thought-provoking choice but in the end we felt we needed to honor that choice.”
