Charges dropped against Carnegie Mellon student who marched as naked pope
College Insurrection brought you this story when it happened and we reported when the young woman was charged with indecent exposure.
Now we bring you the epilogue.
Eric Owens of The Daily Caller reports.
Getting away with it: charges dropped against Carnegie Mellon’s naked pope
A Carnegie Mellon University student who paraded in a pope costume and was naked from the waist down has cut a deal with prosecutors, reports CBS Pittsburgh.
Instead of facing misdemeanor indecent exposure charges and possible sex offender registration, Katherine O’Connor will perform 80 hours of community service at her leisure this summer.
The incident occurred on April 18. O’Connor was participating in an event stage by fine arts students on the CMU campus called the “Annual Anti-Gravity Downhill Derby.”
The 19-year-old art student dressed as a caricature of the pope from the waist up and naked from the waist down. In a vulgar touch, she also shaved her pubic hair into the shape of a cross. She chucked condoms to spectators. She was also taking exaggerated drags on a cigarette.
O’Connor’s alleged artistic ambition was to expose the Roman Catholic Church’s child sex-abuse scandal, which rocked American Catholicism roughly a decade ago.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, O’Connor’s adviser at Carnegie Mellon approved the stunt. Also, onlookers were — somehow — informed that it might be a good idea not to watch O’Connor.
Bishop David A. Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh complained to Carnegie Mellon after the parade.
School officials responded by saying that CMU would defend the right to freedom of expression, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Getting away with it: charges dropped against Carnegie Mellon’s naked pope (The Daily Caller)