Re: Procedure for Obscenity Cases

[Ron Parker <rparker () BRAZOSPORT EDU>]

1) I try to thoroughly document the situation and retain all relevant
logs. I also make sure that I can positively identify the person involved.
I don't rely on anyone's identification but my own. In other words, I have
to have solid evidence of an incident and I have to link that evidence to
the person involved.

2) I provide one warning, even though our student handbook is supposed to
be required reading, but I'm not required to. I give a written warning
that contains a copy of the policy. I retain a signed copy of the warning
and give one to the student. Employees are handled by a memo to the human
resources office on the first offense. We've never had to go any further
with one of these cases.

3) Repeat violators, or first offenders who commit a more serious offense
(or have other student conduct issues in the past), are referred to the
Dean of Students. After meeting with me and the Dean, they generally are
suspended for one semester or given a written warning by the Dean.
Employees would be handled by the human resources office. We've never had
to prosecute an employee.

4) Anything involving child pornography is immediately referred to the
local police department. We have seen people prosecuted by the FBI and
sent to prison based on these referrals so we have to be very sure we have
done our homework. There's nothing quite like a visit to my office from
two FBI special agents to make the point about how serious this stuff can
be.

5) I got tired of dealing with so many incidents several years ago so we
installed content filtering software (Websense) that works with our
Checkpoint firewall. I realize that content filtering is a controversial
issue for colleges but, from a practical/tactical standpoint, it is much
better for our faculty who are trying to teach and the students who are
trying to learn (the ones that aren't surfing porn sites during class).
I've spent a lot less time in the Dean of Students office since we
installed the software. I don't want to start a flame war about First
Amendment and students rights but we've found the filtering to deter a lot
of this activity.

--
Ron Parker, Director of Information Technology, Brazosport College


On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, Theresa Semmens wrote:

> Would anyone like to share the formal procedures they use for inappropriate
> network and computer usage cases dealing with obscenity/pornography?
> Thanks.
>
>
> Theresa Semmens
> NDSU IT Security Officer
> North Dakota State University
> Fargo, ND 58101
> 701.231.5870
> Theresa.Semmens () ndsu nodak edu
>
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