The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., has given the green light to a student-run Sex Workers' Art Show on campus.

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University President Gene Nichol approved the controversial sex show in a statement that also said Nichols had tried to work with students to hold the event at an off-campus venue, the Newport News Daily Press reported Monday.

Students were unable to find an off-campus venue, however, and Nichol said the First Amendment and "defining traditions of openness that sustain universities" required he allow the show to be held at the college.

"My views and the views of others in the community about the worth or offensiveness of the program can provide no basis for censoring it," he added.

The show is scheduled for Feb. 4 at William and Mary and Feb. 5 at Virginia Commonwealth University and features monologues by strippers, prostitutes and other sex workers.