From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Re: User services was: Re: putting lyrics to "Cop Killer" in .plan file
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 02:28:22 GMT

betsys@cs.umb.edu (Elizabeth Schwartz) writes:

[...]
>Funny you should mention that. We just drafted a rough policy file,
>adn one thing we put in is that providing public services is the
>responsibility of the administrators and must be approved by us.
[...]

What criteria will you use? You will likely be pressured to use your
new authority to censor your users.

If you don't want to become a censor, you may want to look at how
librarians select material. I'm enclosing references.

You may also want to consider liability. If the school's approval
process involves "editorial" decisions, you likely increase the
schools potential liability. (References enclosed)

- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

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

=================
student.freedoms
=================
Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main
statement on student academic freedom.

=================
library/bill-of-rights.ala
=================
The Library Bill of Rights from the American Library Association.

=================
library/freedom-to-read.ala
=================
The "Freedom to Read Statement" of the American Library Association
and Association of American Publishers.

It says in part: "We trust Americans to recognize propaganda, and to
reject it.  We do not believe they need the help of censors to assist
them in this task.  We do not believe they are prepared to sacrifice
their heritage of a free press in order to be "protected" against what
others think may be bad for them.  We believe they still favor free
enterprise in ideas and expression."

=================
library/diversity.ala
=================
"Diversity in Collection Development"

An interpretation by the American Library Association of the "Library
Bill of Rights"

It says that collections should be inclusive, not exclusive. And that
materials should cover the needs and interest of all patrons. "This
includes materials that reflect political, economic, religious,
social, minority, and sexual issues."


=================
library/selection-workbook.ala
=================
Full text of ALA's selection policy workbook.

The American Library Association's "Workbook on Selection Policy
Writing". Although aimed at textbook and library book selection in
grade and high schools, it also seems applicable to newsgroup
selection. It includes information about how create a selection policy
and how to handle complaints. It also includes a sample selection
policy.

=================
library/int-freedom.ala
=================
"Intellectual Freedom Statement"

An interpretation by the American Library Association of the "Library
Bill of Rights"

=================
library/censorship.def.ala
=================
The American Library Association's definition of "censorship" and related
terms.

=================
law/cubby-v-compuserv
=================
Report of a federal district court case which said CompuServe could
not be held liable for the defamatory content because it exercised no
editorial control.


=================
law/student-publications.misc
=================
Quotes from the book _Law of the Student Press_ by the Student Press
Law Center (1985,1988). They say that four-letter words are protected
speech, that public universities are not likely to be liable for
publications that they for which they do not control the contents, and
that the _Hazelwood_ decision does not apply to universities.

=================
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?

=================
faq/netnews.writing
=================
q: Should my university allow students to post to Netnews?

=================
faq/netnews.liability
=================
q: Does a University reduce its likely liability by screening Netnews
for offensive articles and newsgroups?

=================
faq/censorship-and-harassment
=================
q: Must/should universities ban material that some find offensive
(from Netnews facilities, email, libraries, and student publications,
etc) in order to comply with antiharassment laws?

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

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 (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/student.freedoms
  pub/academic/library/bill-of-rights.ala
  pub/academic/library/freedom-to-read.ala
  pub/academic/library/diversity.ala
  pub/academic/library/selection-workbook.ala
  pub/academic/library/int-freedom.ala
  pub/academic/library/censorship.def.ala
  pub/academic/law/cubby-v-compuserv
  pub/academic/law/student-publications.misc
  pub/academic/faq/netnews.reading
  pub/academic/faq/netnews.writing
  pub/academic/faq/netnews.liability
  pub/academic/faq/censorship-and-harassment

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 student.freedoms
send acad-freedom/library bill-of-rights.ala
send acad-freedom/library freedom-to-read.ala
send acad-freedom/library diversity.ala
send acad-freedom/library selection-workbook.ala
send acad-freedom/library int-freedom.ala
send acad-freedom/library censorship.def.ala
send acad-freedom/law cubby-v-compuserv
send acad-freedom/law student-publications.misc
send acad-freedom/faq netnews.reading
send acad-freedom/faq netnews.writing
send acad-freedom/faq netnews.liability
send acad-freedom/faq censorship-and-harassment



-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk,comp.org.eff.talk,comp.admin.policy,alt.censorship,soc.college