51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Attempts to pulp a book under the Obscene Publications Act have been attacked as "an astonishing assault on academic freedom" by the Council of 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Deans of Arts and Humanities in letters to the home secretary, the education secretary and the higher education minister. West Midlands police confiscated Mapplethorpe from the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Central England last month after the Director of Public Prosecutions advised that it was likely to "deprave and corrupt". UCE vice-chancellor Peter Knight is to meet police this week. He has said he will not have the book destroyed. Letters, page 15