I forgot to follow up on Friday’s controversial screening of Fahrenheit 9/11 at my alma mater. That’s mainly because there wasn’t much to report.

There was an overly-full house, with a number of people sitting in the aisles or standing by the back wall of the auditorium. And as promised, there was a brief announcement addressing the concerns over showing the movie at this time, with the election only a couple of months away. But nothing more than that. I only stayed for the first half of the film, so I didn’t catch the post-show discussion that was planned; I imagine there was some lively debate then. But there was none of the overt protesting outside or other demonstrations that I secretly hoped for.

I shouldn’t be surprised; some things never change. Eckerd’s a fairly laid-back campus, and the student body as a whole is pretty disconnected for such a small school. It’d take a lot more than a movie to get things riled up. The equivalent from my student days was a showing of The Last Temptation of Christ in 1989 or 1990; the campus chaplain said a few words before film rolled on that one, but nothing confrontational, and overall it was another relative non-event.

I’m not complaining, really. I don’t want to read and hear about my school becoming a daily intra-campus protest zone. But it would have been something to see a little action.

For myself, I got to spend several minutes chatting with my old mentor, Professor Tony Brunello. I hadn’t seen him in close to ten years, so it was good to catch up a bit. He looked good; he hasn’t changed much, although time’s definitely passed (his daughter’s starting college this year!). Brunello was the one who spoke before the movie started, and led the Q&A afterward.