The filtered professor

Miracle of all miracles, I made the 12.5 mile round trip run from the Hahamongna Watershed parking lot to the top of the Ken Burton trail in dry weather. (Sorry, folks, those place names surely mean nothing to almost all of my readers.)   It poured as I was driving to the run, and poured on my way home -- but I got two hours of full reprieve, and for that I am immensely grateful.   It was warm enough to run shirtless, but cool enough to get by on just 20 ounces of water.  Can't beat that.

I was able to complete my refueling just after 12 noon.  I shall make sure that tomorrow night, when our 30-Hour fast with the kids comes to an end, that I am the last to be served.  That ought to make it fair.

Yesterday's Pasadena City College Courier reports on the new Internet filters that have been installed on our faculty computers.  Amusingly enough, the student computers in the library and other computing labs have unfiltered access to the Internet.

In an attempt to curb recreational use of the Internet, a filtering system has been installed on staff and faculty computers to eliminate visits to pornographic, adult gaming and adult gambling sites.

Computers used by students and computers in the library are not affected by the filter.

Okay, I give.  What's the difference between adult gaming and adult gambling?  I thought "gaming" was just a euphemism for gambling.  Did the reporter make an error, or are they really two entirely different things? 

"We're trying to define to what extent Internet use is permissible," Hardash said. "We do not wish to block their ability to do their job."

In September, the college began monitoring staff and faculty activity online to determine the amount of time spent visiting websites not used for institutional or administrative purposes. Filtering was turned on in November to block a narrow portion of websites, said Dale Pittman, director of management information services.

Teachers who wish to gain access to a blocked site for educational purposes will be able to talk to a division dean, Hardash said.

Although an acceptable use policy regarding the Internet is in place for faculty and staff, the college wanted to do everything it could to avoid inappropriate use of publicly funded computers, according to Dr. James Kossler, college president.

Once the software was installed, "we saw there were abuses," said Kossler.

Note:  we were never told that our Internet use was being monitored, though I just assumed it was.  One of the reasons why I tell my students to contact me via Hotmail and not via the campus e-mail is I don't want an administrator snooping about.

  However, faculty members are concerned about restricting certain websites, said Kay Dabelow, president of the Academic Senate. (And the senior historian at PCC and a good friend).

"The faculty technology committee felt that a blocking of Internet sites on faculty computers represented a violation of academic freedom and recommended to the senate board that the board take a position opposing such blockage," Dabelow said. "The matter has also been referred to the senate academic freedom and professional ethics committee, which will also make its recommendation to the senate board."

Honestly, I'm of two minds about this.  If I put on my "civil libertarian union member" hat, I'm with Dabelow.    Though I understand the desire to want to block porn and gambling sites, part of me resents the notion that the college doesn't consider its own faculty capable of exercising discretion when using campus computers.  I'm especially troubled by the fact that non-teachers (those who design these filters) have decided for themselves what does and does not have an academic purpose.

But frankly, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm leaning towards siding with the administration on this one.   It is conceivable that porn and gaming sites might have a proper academic use, particularly for someone (like myself) who teaches courses on gender and sexuality.  But the filter we have is very good about distinguishing real porn from sites that deal with sexuality from a more humane,  non-commercial perspective.  (For example, two feminist publications I often read,  Bitch and Bust,  aren't  blocked -- something I was pleased to discover.  Playboy, on the other hand, is.  Smart filter.)  I'm also happy that we are able to access blocked sites by making direct requests to the administration.  I've done so for one site, and within 48 hours received access to it.  I did not have to explain my rationale, beyond saying it was needed for my work.

As much as I celebrate the freedom of tenure (and when I teach courses like Lesbian and Gay history, which I will in the fall, I use that freedom for all its worth), I recognize that even tenured faculty live in communities.  We aren't utterly autonomous -- what we do in our campus offices on campus machines is not merely our own private business.  Porn and gambling sites have, in most cases, little connection to what we do as professors.   For those in our community who struggle with porn or gambling addiction, the fact that access is now blocked may well be a relief.  In some sense, the work computer becomes a safer place.  The chance of inadvertent embarrassment or even a sexual harassment problem is also minimized. 

When I first joined the PCC faculty in 1994, there wasn't much on the Internet that was of use to most folks.  My first couple of years, I logged on for e-mail and nothing else.  It was only about 1997 that I began to explore the wide range of possibilities on-line, and found that the web was a terrific resource (and a great way to spend idle time.)  But I am aware that the Internet has its darker side as well, and I suspect that for some, that darker side can be immensely seductive.

Heck, I welcome the administration -- or anyone else -- to monitor my on-campus Internet use.  You'll find out I read a couple of dozen blogs a day, return an extraordinary number of student e-mails, and am obsessed with chinchillas.  You'll also find that I'm interested in issues of evangelical faith and human sexuality, and I haven't the slightest embarrassment about the sites I visit in pursuit of that latter interest.   

Comments

[Xrlq]

Okay, I give. What's the difference between adult gaming and adult gambling? I thought "gaming" was just a euphemism for gambling. Did the reporter make an error, or are they really two entirely different things?

Not entirely different, but not entirely the same, either. My understanding is that "gaming" involves an element of skill, while "gambling" relies on pure chance.

[Hugo Schwyzer]

Thanks, XRLQ, I think I understand.

[La Lubu]

Also, I think 'gaming' may refer to non-gambling role-playing games (Everquest and the like).

[happyhed]

who reads this shit?

[mythago]

Why don't they just put up a filter to limit non-work sites?

[Jennifer]

Just wanted to say - love your blog!

[jenell]

Our computers are filtered, too. And of course, the main server has a record of e-mails and internet use b/c it keeps daily back-ups (which are incredibly useful when one's computer breaks down).

There are few instances in which porn or gambling would be useful for academic work. It happens much more frequently that professors become addicted, or feed addictions, in ways that jeopardize their jobs. I think the filtering helps protect our jobs, and protect us from ourselves, at least at work. It might be a bit paternalistic, but I don't mind.

We also can request sites to be unblocked, or go to the dean's office and use an unfiltered computer that is there (I think). When I wrote a book on birth control, I ran into several problems, but just came home and used the sites from home.

[JM]

I would agree with La Lubu on the use of "gaming" in this context. All one has to do is sit in the back row of any classroom with 'net access and look at the laptops being used to play first-person shooter games and what not, in class. I always feel like a big geek when I use my laptop for crazy things like note-taking. :)

[Hugo Schwyzer]

Thanks for clarifying what gaming is, everyone. I thought it was an industry-friendly euphemism for gambling.

Jenell, you're absolutely right. "It might be a bit paternalistic, but I don't mind." Agreed.

[Rob]

Dang, and here I gave up caustic sarcasm when I redid UnSpace. I've had to wipe out 3456 7 replies so far.

Aren't you embarassed to be working there? What's worse, the low opinion the admin has of the profs, or that the profs lived down to the low opinion?

[JM]

Off-topic...but since you mentioned Bitch I thought I'd mention that they're having a benefit auction of some stuff. It includes all sorts of out of print back issues and what not.

[jp]

You might give the civil libertarian side of you another shot at this. Seems to me that the potential problem isn't that profs aren't respected enough to be trusted, or that academic freedom per se will be blocked--the potential problem is that it is the administration, not the profs themselves, who are deciding WHAT counts as ok and what doesn't. Part of the point of academic freedom is that it is up to the individual instructor to make this decision, and that he or she really only has to justify that decision by doing academic work and publishing, etc.

I guess what I'm saying is, just because you're not bothered that somebody is tracking your web use because you're not bothered by what they will find (chinchillas aside!)doesn't mean that it will stay that way--what if they decide to investigate you in some way regarding your Gay and Lesbian history class? What if THEY declare that visitng Gay.com for research for that class isn't academic? It shouldn't be the administration making that decision, right?What if you wanted to do a comparison of 'feminist' articles re: bitch vs. playboy, for instance? The possible examples are numerous--and the point is that whatever the example, who ought be making the decision on whether it is 'academic' or not?

[The Grand Inquisitor]

The gay/lesbian organizations regularly meet in DePaul's Lincoln Park Student Center at the corner of Belden/Kenmore on the 3rd floor between the Ministry Office and the Dean of Student Services within forty feet. This is no doubt a contradiction as well as shameful in a Catholic university which boasts the nation’s largest student body population at +20,000 standing.

A month ago [three weeks prior to the end of the Winter quarter of 2005] I saw a DePaul U. priest wearing the collar and all, exiting from the student chapel on the 1st floor with a long neck green wine bottle in his hand. He gazed at me with a contorted look in his visage at a distance, vin bottle in hand, -- I'm not kidding, -- walked up to me, I was standing under the lunch room stair case on the due West end of the Student Center at time, this same priest placed the long neck green wine bottle directly over his private area as if where an extension of his penis and again applied a sorted stare at my visage again. I HAVE NEVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE BEEN SO SHOCKED BY SUCH A CARNAL Knowledge incident. Every Thing I have ever been told about catholic priests is true. Just last week, I stopped over to the Ministry Office to enquire about this priest name based on my physical description of him. The Black and White girl in the office ID'd the priest as Fr Richard Valentine. They also wanted to intimate something about Fr. Dan Faes As well.

If you have young and virgin teenage children entering collage as a freshman there is a strong likelihood that they will be introduced to homosexuality via DePaul Universities’ social sciences and philosophy (dominated by gay male graduate interns) academic curriculum classes in which they are required to enroll. The department heads and faculty are headed up by gay and lesbian faculty and administrators who do something and are supposed to be working there. You can not even get a job in these departments if you are not homosexual. The Dean of Students, homosexual organizations, colleague faculty, -- regularly communicate using email, and cell phones, and stalk DESIRED STUDENTS for recruitment -- and campus security regularly monitors on there behave (lecture classes that all have TV monitors designed by DePaul U’s computer department CTI (most flagrant violator) that can be “piped” into private offices to single out specific students who are over achievers, physically attractive and especially target Black Males who aligned them selves with the moral high ground that encompasses all of the previously mentioned behavior and physical traits.

Designated students are given the specific task and job of recruiting for homosexuality specific students who regularly use campus facilities: computer labs, libraries, and student center (Lincoln Park campus location), as well as the Law School building -- location of Lower Level campus security offices, you can see a officer monitor who they LIKE on TV monitors -- (shortwave TV’s cameras hidden in crevices around the class black boards. I even heard young honest white women from a different class down the hall mention during class break when I walked in the 12 floor hall way from out of my Java computer class, “I saw you on the TV in the Graduate class room down the hall.” This type of illegal surveillance is conducted by administrators of the “Office of Graduate Admission School of Computer Science, Telecommunication and Information Systems” located on 243 So. Wabash Ave, Chicago, Il 60604, (312) 362-5327. I sent a letter to my java instructor telling him that I was excessively harassed by gay students who sit behind me either making loud noises or kicking the rear end of the chair I was setting in. When I tell campus security, they take no security violation action as they are the ones who setup the students actions and perpetrate the events on the behave of Greg MacVarish DeAn of Student Services front the Lincoln Park campus location, much evidence points in that direction when after entering the building effeminate Security Officer Romansky – talks about me to Law people in the building – say, “HEY, YOU NEED TO DONATE AFTER LEAVING THE MEN'S ROOM. The Data Structures and Algorithms Java class instructor, Dr Perkovic, in my last class meeting even told the entire class that I had a criminal record, “get his social security number” and “he has spent several “Bits” in JAIL.” I never, ever said a word in class all winter quarter. I did not do any thing to deserve to have my name and reputation sullied in this ill manner among students and on short wave TV broadcasted to DISTANT LEARNING STUDENTS OVER THE INTERNET. I even sent a letter to the instructor about this problem with no results occurring.

This problem is pervasive through the downtown campus where I will have classes again in the Spring Quarter. Just last week when I left the CTI building to register for classes last Monday (I was stalked by maintenance man caring a security radios) when I enter the Law School building in order to enter the main Loop campus (entrance under construction, – I guarantee you that hidden security cameras will be installed in the building façade when contractors do the façade face lift) on 1 E. Jackson, Chicago, Ill 60604.

All of these offices even know who is reporting them, yet no member of the staffs are confronting me about this for they all know that they are conspiring in these flagrant violation and illegal acts that are against the LAW. They all know that I will turn state evidence against them for these audacious immoral atrocities.

I have sent a number of letter about this problem to the local Chicago media only to receive blasting sirens out side my window every time I submit e-mail, stalking a surveillance from suited up and under cover officers and down to Comcast cable truck and vans and undesignated vehicle out site my residence window at home as a result of my bono fide and honest efforts to upend and eradicate and receive help for these misguided and wrongful acts of surveillance of course BY law officials. Hell, it looks like it’s easer for them to try to “get” or “plant” – THEY LOOK IN TO MY COMPUTER PC WHEN I’M ON THE INTERNET, LOOK I’M A COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJOR, I’M TIRED of REMOVING THE SPY WARE. I’M NOT DONG ANY THING AGAINST THE LAW -- any thing on the little man, but no one wants to do any thing to STOP the harasser (OR big kkkahuna )who are committing these low down violations of civic and federal law. If law enforcement went after big the kkkahuna who is causing the problems in the first place, rightfully charge try and convict them like the Greek Lawyer Euthephro did of his father when advising charged ill mannered Socrates for corruption of the nations male collegian youth in Athens, that would simply mean that I finally did an honest day of work at the public eXpense [sic]. If this happened I’d with out hesitation withdraw and promptly end my civil rights violation complaints against Catholic school DePaul University FORthwithly.

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