Policy forbids
valid research
For a university to thrive and educate its students well,
professors need to be knowledgeable in the subjects they
teach. In addition to degrees and experience in subject
matter, SUU requires its faculty members to be involved
in scholarly activity within their fields.
We agree with this requirement. In today’s fast-paced
society a person’s education is never complete.
If professors stopped keeping up with developments in
their fields once they received their doctorates and began
teaching at SUU, students would receive a sub-standard
education.
We encourage SUU’s faculty to actively participate
in the professional aspect of their fields.
However, we believe SUU’s Computing, Internet Use
and Network Security policy is vague and is being applied
to limit valuable research. There are several subjects
taught on this campus involving material some people may
find offensive. The policy does not directly limit what
can and cannot be researched on the Internet but leaves
it up to interpretation.
The policy states that while academic freedom and freedom
of expression apply to computer use, so do certain responsibilities
and that use of computers are “subject to the normal
requirements of legal and ethical behavior within the
university community.”
What exactly are the these requirements and who decides
if they’re normal? We believe it is normal for a
faculty member who teaches sociology or human sexuality
to use the university’s computers to research society’s
use of the Internet for sexual purposes. We encourage
it. How could a professor teach the topic without knowing
what is out there?
Sociology professors and students aren’t the only
ones affected by this limitation. We believe it is appropriate
for English professors to use the Internet to research
possibly offensive material for novels or other works.
After all, there are several great novels that deal with
such issues. The same goes for science. There are people
who would prefer not to look at naked bodies or the insides
of them, but this type of research is critical in that
field.
We don’t think a university should limit the knowledge
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anything. To look up questionable
sites on the Internet for entertainment purposes is not
an acceptable use of our resources, but we support anything
that encourages and enables faculty to teach and students
to learn. We believe the computer use policy is being used
to limit rather than encourage an active learning process.
In addition, because the university requires scholarly activitywithin
each faculty member’s specific field, we believe it
should support them in their endeavors to do so. To require
professors in sensitive subjects such as sociology, where
much of what they teach is controversial and potentially
offensive, to participate within their field and then limit
where they can perform this research is not helpful.
If SUU believes knowledge of such sensitive subjects is
not valuable to its students and not appropriate to be accessed
on its computers, then those subjects shouldn’t be
taught here. We see little point in teaching human sexuality
without discussing pornography and Internet sexual practices.
We see little point in a professor teaching anatomy without
the use of a human body. We don’t see the difference
between looking at it on the Internet an viewing it in person
in a lab.
The difference we do acknowledge is the difference between
entertainment and research. Just as it would be inappropriate
for a professor to use department funds to go to a movie
that’s not part of research, it is inappropriate for
a professor to use university computers for entertainment.
The most glaring error in the computer policy is that while
SUU will not allow professors to research this material
on its computers, it has no problem placing its name on
the research once it’s published.
While we don’t agree with the way this policy has
been implemented, we think if the university disallows the
research of this material on its computers it should not
endorse it once completed.
SUU should not put its name on documents it does not allow
to be researched on campus and it should not allow material
requiring banned research to be taught. We don’t want
to see that happen, but the mixed messages SUU sends its
professors and students aren’t doing any good.
The opinion expressed above is the collective perspective
of the University Journal and its editorial board. The editorial
board meets every Monday at 1 p.m. in Room 172 of the Sharwan
Smith Center. Visitors are welcome.
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