Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk
Path: eff!kadie
From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: (none)
Message-ID: <1992Aug27.150751.11322@eff.org>
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Sender: usenet@eff.org (NNTP News Poster)
Nntp-Posting-Host: eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
References: <01GO2KO2RN849JD9MJ@BAYLOR.EDU>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 15:07:51 GMT
Lines: 101

MYGDALW@baylor.ccis.baylor.edu (William Mygdal) writes:

>I discovered that Baylor (1) screens out all alt. and
>rec. groups and who knows what else - we have 1213 newsgroups listed, and (2)
>censors individual messages within newsgroups that are available.  For
>example, in looking through the Jewish culture newsgroup I found that 
>messages on the topic of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow were listed in the
>group, but when I tried to read one I got a message stating that that item
>could not be accessed.

It's unlikely that Baylor is screening articles one-by-one; such an
undertaking would be very expensive. On the other hand, it is not
unlikely that Baylor excludes newsgroups based on the school's religious
doctrine.

_The Insider's Guide to the Golleges 1991_ says:

"Don't come to Baylor expecting a party school. Not much has changed
at Baylor University since its Baptist founding in 1845. While other
shcools are only now starting to reinstate the _in locl parentis_
polices of thirty years ago, Baylor is proud to say that it never lost
them. The School continues to provide a not-notch education accompied
by strict ascetic regulations."

The school's written policy isn't bad:

It says that

5.  Electronic communications facilities (such as MAIL) are for
    university related activities only.  Fraudulent, harassing or
    obscene messages and/or materials are not to be sent or
    stored.

Contrast this with the broader and vaguer policy of the Computer
Scienece department of Univerity of Texas (which, unlike Baylor, is
bound by the U.S. Constitution).

      Users of electronic mail and bulletin boards should avoid sending
  messages that are libelous, patently offensive, or that intimidate, threaten,
  demean, or harass individuals or groups, or that would otherwise bring
  discredit to the University or the Department.

The Baylor policy is better but could be improved by allowing
"personal use."

The Baylor policy also provides for some due process, although the
"due process" begins by temporarily suspending a user from the
computer. The policy also treats programs and files as confidential.

I'm enclosing a reference to an FAQ on newsgroup selection and
censorship. I think one key is that computer media be treated like
traditional media (e.g.  the library and the newspaper). As far as I
know, Baylor does this.

- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================
faq/netnews.reading
=================
q: Should my university remove (or restrict) Netnews newsgroups
because some people find them offensive? If it doesn't have the
resources to carry all newsgroups, how should newsgroups be selected?

=================
widener/baylor.policy
=================


=================
policies/cs.utexas.edu
=================
Computer Use Policy of the Department of Computer Science at the
University of Texas.
(Critiqued)

=================
=================

These document(s) are available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.77.172.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/faq/netnews.reading
  pub/academic/widener/baylor.policy
  pub/academic/policies/cs.utexas.edu

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org.
Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file
name):

send acad-freedom/faq netnews.reading
send acad-freedom/widener baylor.policy
send acad-freedom/policies cs.utexas.edu

-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =