CLARIFICATION: We have made a clarification at the bottom of the story regarding a quote by Learning Center Manager Adrienne Nicosia. Please refer to the italicized text below.
The Acceptable Use of Information Technology does not explicitly state that students are not allowed to watch pornography. However, statements in this document say that students will not “…create what even a casual observer might reasonably perceive to be an atmosphere of harassment, including sexual harassment, even if that person just happens to be passing by.”
Henceforth, if students who watch porn on library computers are not reported to the head librarian, they are free to view this material despite how uncomfortable the surrounding students are, according to the library’s policy.
This rule only gives the librarians enough power to confront the students watching porn if they catch the student themselves or if another student complains about the matter. The staff would then ask the student to stop whatever they are doing and leave.
“We talk to the student, it’s not confronting them about what they’re doing. It’s just that you are disturbing [with] whatever it is that you are doing,” says Del Hornbuckle, the head librarian, about how she and her staff handle this situation.
The situation, however, can sometimes become tricky to handle as these students are aware of being spotted. Hornbuckle says, “What I’ve observed is that they’re aware that someone is kind of bothered by it, and by the time we get over there, they’ve removed it from the screen. But we still say something, that’s procedure, we still address it.”
Students watching porn actually does not that happen often according to Hornbuckle, “In terms of somebody coming to us, [it is] actually not very often.” Director of Information Technology Privacy for the college, Patrick Feehan, states not receiving many reports.. He says, “[How long] since we’ve gotten a report? I think it’s been a year.”
Feehan also mentions how the new software also may have played a part in helping with this problem. Because the current software now requires for students to enter their M-Number and their last name, Feehan says that the sense of accountability may prevent students from logging onto inappropriate sites.
According to Learning Center Manager, Adrienne Nicosia, there are talks of a newer software that may possibly be installed in all computers of the building by next fall. Known as the Active Directory System, the software will be able to record student activities on the computers more closely.
Regarding the new software Nicosia claimed it may help with keeping students off of inappropriate sites. “Whatever you do in a computer can be connected to you.”
However, the scenario slightly shifts as one goes to the Language Lab at the ground-level of the Macklin Tower. One of the employees at the Language Lab, who will remain anonymous due to an altercation with a student over the subject, says that it is not unusual to run into students watching porn. “Through the years, that’s been happening on a regular basis.”
This employee said she saw a student watching pornography only two weeks ago.
Nicosia says that perhaps because the computers in the Language lab don’t have the new software with its restrictions, more students may have been drawn to the freedom of these computers.The limitations of the computers on the first floor may have pushed the students to the computers in the Language lab.
Nicosia has stated that there is no current policy in regards to students watching pornography. She has not personally witnessed students watching pornography, and the incidents themselves are not an everyday occurrence.
The Active Directory software might put some restrictions on the usage of the computers in the Language lab should it be installed next fall.
