Pa. college bans porn, gambling sites
LATROBE, Pa. (AP) - January 14, 2008 Jim Towey, the college's president and former director of the
Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives with the Bush
administration, introduced a policy of filtering out the sites on
those computers shortly after taking office.
The filtering was not announced, and some say they were unaware
of it before the appearance late this fall of fliers posted
anonymously on campus and a blog by Towey defending his decision.
Towey said the proliferation of pornography, some hard core and
violent, is degrading and potentially addictive to those who view
it.
"I realize that we are in the minority of Catholic colleges and
universities, but I like where we are," he said, according to the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I think our Catholic identity and
mission compel us to give this witness to our students that our
community is not going to be complicit in this spreading of
pornography."
Towey said he has received dozens of supportive comments, but
also noted that he had critics, including someone who has been
posting fliers on the campus of 1,900 students asking, "Is Mr.
Towey our parent, or the college president?"
The idea arose in July 2006, three weeks after Towey arrived
from the White House. A memo from the school's dean of students
about computer misuse on campuses - particularly the downloading of
pornography - sought Towey's authorization to use vendor-supplied
software to filter out that material.
Towey said he weighed the moral and academic implications with
campus monks, professors and administrators before making his
decision.
The filtering system does not affect classroom computer labs,
the library, faculty offices or wireless networks on the St.
Vincent campus.
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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
http://www.post-gazette.com
