An executive committee of the academic senate at California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo plans to introduce a resolution today that would impose a ban on the personal use of university computers to view or download digital material classified as pornography.
The "Resolution to Enhance Civility and Promote a Diversity-Friendly Campus Climate" also would prohibit access to hate literature and obscenity through the Cal Poly information technology network.
Linda Vanasupa, head of the Materials Engineering Department at Cal Poly and a chief proponent of the resolution, said the ban addresses the hostile and aggressive tendencies provoked by sexually explicit material.
"If we vote this down, what kind of climate does it create?" Vanasupa said. "We need to see our role in this societal revolution as faculty."
Under Cal Poly's current Responsible Use Policy, faculty, staff and students are permitted to view any Internet site, as long as it does not interfere with an employee's responsibilities.
"The statement from our Information Technology Services is, in terms of personal use, that they make no distinction from doing your taxes and viewing pornographic material," Vanasupa said, noting that the proposal has undergone multiple changes following a series of complaints about possible First Amendment violations.
The initial resolution prohibited both personal and professional viewing of pornographic and other offensive material, requiring permission from the university president prior to accessing certain material for research purposes.
University Law Prof. Robert O'Neil criticized the proposal, likening a system of presidential approval to the short-lived Virginia Tech policy which sought to regulate controversial speakers on campus.
"It creates an approval mechanism that enables a faculty official to make content-matter judgments," O'Neil said.
However, he acknowledged problems like that of Mary Pedersen, a Cal Poly nutrition science professor whose Power Point presentation to a large undergraduate class was disrupted by a succession of pornographic material.
O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, said, however, that he fears the resolution's threat to free speech.
"It singles out a particular category of expression -- most of which is not unlawful," he said.
O'Neil said the Cal Poly proposal could have ramifications at universities across the nation, stressing the danger of narrowly-defined policies.
"My prediction is the issue is going to have to be faced a little more broadly," he said.
The executive committee must first place the resolution on the May 6 agenda to be voted on by the full senate.
If it is placed on the agenda, Vanasupa said she doubts the full senate will pass the resolution, attributing her pessimism to the negative backlash from Cal Poly students and administrators.
In a letter to the editor submitted to the student newspaper, the Mustang Daily, Cal Poly alumnus Matthew Du Puy voiced his concern over the proposal.
"It is an appalling reversal to suggest that the First Amendment applies only to you when you are at home," Du Puy said in the letter. "I have the right to free speech in public, including a state-funded institution."
Even if the resolution fails, Vanasupa said she still thinks some amount of progress has been made in elucidating the need to address the atmosphere produced by offensive digital materials.
"We just don't think state computing resources should be used for that sort of thing," she said. "What is the purpose of allowing state equipment to fuel aggression?"
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