Purdue's PLAYBOY Collection

Recently, I was searching through the micro-film collection in the Hicks Undergraduate Library here at Purdue and came across a rather unexpected collection. It seems that the library has been archiving the black and white edition of PLAYBOY Magazine on micro-film since 1995.

Although I'm not offended by the collection and it isn't display, I do have a few questions. First of all, why is Purdue collecting porn on microfilm? Is it being used for Purdue classes such as Gender Issues or Human Sexuality? Surely it's not being used by anatomy classes.

Secondly, who is willing to view this on the micro-film projectors in the library or is there a private viewing room? I could imagine that some people might be offended if someone was looking at PLAYBOY on the micro-film projectors even if it is in black and white.

If Purdue does have a legitimate purpose for its PLAYBOY collection why does it not also have Playgirl? One might consider this to be gender discrimination.

Most importantly, who is paying for the PLAYBOY collection? Is it paid for by the students taking the class for which it is used, if there is such a class? If it is being funded by the taxpayers, then there is an issue here. It is possible, however, that the micro-film issues are donated by PLAYBOY or another source for "research purposes." People do read PLAYBOY for the articles, right?

I called the library to ask about the purpose of the collection but was told that the person who could answer that question was not in today. Hopefully I wasn't shuffled around on the phone because someone didn't want to answer the question. I'll be calling back soon to find out.