NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26/NN_1992_26.iso/spool/alt/comp/acadfre/talk/3369

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Xref: sparky alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk:3369 comp.org.eff.talk:6926 comp.admin.policy:1499 alt.censorship:8757 soc.college:4776
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Path: sparky!uunet!destroyer!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!eff!kadie
From: [e-mail] (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Abstract of CAF-News 02.47
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:58:37 GMT
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This is an abstract for the most recent "Computers and Academic
Freedom News" (CAF-News). Information about CAF-News follows the
abstract. The full CAF-News is available via anonymous ftp or by
email. For ftp access, do an anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org
(192.88.144.4). Get file "pub/academic/news/cafv02n47".
The full CAF-News is also available via email. Send email to
[e-mail]. Include the line:

send caf-news cafv02n47

--- begin abstract ---
[Week ending September 27, 1992

========================== KEY ================================
The words after the numbers are a short PARAPHRASES of the
articles, or QUOTES from them, NOT AN OBJECTIVE SUMMARY and
not necessarily my opinion.
===============================================================

Notes 1-5 continue discussion of the Iowa State dorm-door "censorship"
case.

1. "If a given forum becomes unmanageable, the owners of the forum
should have the right to close it. [...] Does the university have a
resposibility (contractual or otherwise) to provide a proper living
environment for its students?  Does an oft-harassed minority have a
right, under the University's codes/policies, to demand a living
environment free from harassment?"
    <[e-mail]>

2. "You presume that the door displays violate valid antiharassment
rules. I confess that I presumed that they did not. [...] Because
maybe all, and certainly most, of the material on people's door is
legal, to suppress that material would be an injustice."  (Author
also quotes from _UWM Post v. Regents_.)
    <[e-mail]>

3. "No, I'm assuming that the administration wishes to close an
unmanageable forum (which may, or may not, have been directly
established as such)." For instance, some (non-electronic) university
bulletin boards, "notably those in administrative areas, are
controlled by prior approval of materials to be posted.  Is this
censorship?  I think not.
    <[e-mail]>

4. "I've seen out-of-the-way signs proclaiming such free speech
ghettos at U. of Illinois and U. of Texas. I haven't, however, ever
heard of anyone being restricted to them. Nor does the current U. of
I. Student Code refer to ours. [...] The school should enforce
antiharassment rules; it should not close down whole forums."
    <[e-mail]>

5. (From the original Iowa State poster:) "The Dept of Residence has
not said anything about the nature of the posts that prompted this
policy, save that they were 'racist' and 'denegrating'. Rumor  has it
that the student committee has been formed. [...] It would not
surprise me at all if we hear nothing until a new policy is approved
by the Dept of Residence. It  would have the veneer of student
approval and would therefore be stronger in a court of law."
    <[e-mail]>

Note 6 is an announcement regarding the legal counsel available
through the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

6. "REQUESTS FOR HELP IN SITUATIONS WHERE THERE'S NO CRIMINAL OR
CIVIL CASE This category includes situations in which, for example, a
college student has his computer-access privileges suspended because
a 'hacker newsletter' is discovered by a system administrator
rummaging through the student's directory. [...] If you are running
into a legal problem, or if you simply have a general legal question,
or even if you're having a problem on the Electronic Frontier and
you're not sure whether or not it's a legal problem, you should call
me, Mike Godwin, at 617-864-0665, or send me electronic mail at
[e-mail] or at 76711,317 on CompuServe. I won't always be
able to help, but I'm always willing to listen. And I may be able to
help more often than you'd think."
    <[e-mail]>

Note 7 profiles First Amendment defender Nat Hentoff.

7. Notes from a recent lecture given by one of the great defenders of
the First Amendment, journalist Nat Hentoff, jazz critic, columnist
for _The Village Voice_ and author of the new book, _Free Speech for
Me--But Not for Thee_ (HarperCollins).  Also bibliography and
annotations.
    <[e-mail]>

Note 8 is a news item of possible university systems censorship.

8. "In keeping with the spirit of censorship, [Louisiana Tech
University] has turned off all the students e-mail functions for
Internet. [...] Not only has Tech turned off all the students
mailfeed, I have heard evidence that their are individuals reading
students mail/posts/[Netnews] subscriptions.  I have also heard that some
students [Netnews] readings are used against them."
    <[e-mail]>

Note 9 reviews an article by academic computing expert Stephen
Franklin.

9. "While academic computing centers can be expected to provide a
smaller fraction of the total computing resources than in the past,
what they can be expected and challenged to provide can be of
increasing importance [...] in helping shape the academic community's
vision of what can be accomplished with these resources."
    <[e-mail]>

Note 10 is a reply to controversy over systems use at Ohio State.

10. (A private systems administrator:) "I make the decision, but then
I have the freedom of doing that - it's my system. College and
university managers don't have that freedom, since they have to
tolerate the goodie-two-shoes who are permitted to do their thinking
for them, and often must remove 'politicly sensitive' material from
their" systems.
    <[e-mail]>

Notes 11-12 respond to computing policy at University of Rochester.

11. (A Rice University sysadmin:) "There is no absolute right of
privacy.  There is a limited right of privacy.  This means that while
a person has an expectation of privacy regarding their data files or
information, there are conditions under which a duly authorized
person may access those files without obtaining the owner's consent
first.  The task for you and your users is to define the conditions
of access such that you can balance the user's expectation of privacy
with the need to keep the system operating effectively."
    <[e-mail]>

12. (A Skidmore College sysadmin:) "Use your established review
groups. Most universities have a student conduct board and many have
some form of Professional conduct committee for faculty/staff.  Use
them to help keep your practices in sync with the rest of the
institution."
    <[e-mail]>

- Aaron Barnhart]


--- end   abstract ---

CAF-News is a weekly digest of notes from CAF-talk.

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Disclaimer: This CAF-News abstract was compiled by a guest editor or a
regular editor (Paul Joslin, Elizabeth M. Reid, Adam C. Gross, Mark C.
Sheehan, John F. Nixon or Carl M. Kadie). It is not an EFF
publication. The views an editor expresses and editorial decisions he
or she makes are his or her own.

--
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =[e-mail], [e-mail] =