The Maryland General Assembly today put an end to a weeklong standoff with University of Maryland students over the screening of a pornographic film on the College Park campus. Lawmakers agreed that all public universities would need to submit written policies regulating when explicit films can be shown in on-campus public facilities, but they rejected a stricter amendment from the state senator who started the showdown.

Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a Republican who represents Baltimore and Harford Counties, this morning proposed an amendment to the capital budget that would deny funds to any college that did not submit its pornography policy by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year. The Senate’s president, Thomas V. (Mike) Miller, a Democrat who represents parts of Prince George’s and Calvert Counties, called the move out of order, and the Senate voted almost 3 to 1 against Mr. Harris’s amendment.

The requirement to submit a written policy was added to the state’s operating budget, which needs to be passed by the time the legislative session ends Monday. Mr. Harris originally proposed that the University of Maryland’s allocations in the operating budget be cut if administrators allowed a XXX-rated porn film, Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge, to be shown in an on-campus movie theater last Saturday. The university canceled the event, but students claimed their First Amendment rights were being violated.

A student group scheduled an event Monday in which several speakers, including university faculty members and an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, discussed the free-speech issue, and a portion of the film was played.

If the amendment is passed as written, Maryland’s public colleges would have until September to report back to the General Assembly. Mr. Miller and other leaders said the amendment would probably pass because no one wants to be seen as voting for porn. —Megan Eckstein