Thursday, August 23, 2007
Student senate withdrew legislation Monday that asked for revising the zero-tolerance file sharing policy that was put in place by University administration.
Adam McGonigle, chair of the Student Executive Committee, who authored the resolution, said Student Senate and University administration have agreed upon a one-month period in which both parties will research how the new policy affects students.
McGonigle, Wichita sophomore, said he and other student senators think the policy is too extreme and could potentially prohibit students from succeeding academically.
He said that in a month, he and other student senators would decide whether the policy worked for students as it was, or if it needed to be revised.
“We want to create a dialogue with the administration about it,” student body president Hannah Love said.
Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success, said she was willing to work with Student Senate to ensure the policy met the needs of the University.
Love, Dodge City senior, said she was concerned the policy was too difficult to enforce.
Love, McGonigle and student body vice president Ray Wittlinger, have met with Provost Richard Lariviere and Roney to discuss the policy.
“Right now, where we’re at is to still work as close as we can with the administration,” Wittlinger said.
Roney said she hoped that the policy simply stopped students from downloading illegally.
“This is serious business,” Roney said. “It’s illegal. It’s stealing.”
Wittlinger said he, Love and McGonigle were also discussing several propositions with University administration to ensure the policy does not prohibit students from using the Internet for academic purposes.
Options include blocking students from accessing programs that facilitate illegal downloading and allowing students blocked from Internet access in their residence hall rooms to either access only University-related Web sites such as Blackboard, or have full Internet access from another place in their residence hall.
Roney said the current policy allowed students to access the Internet from other points on campus, just not their residence hall rooms.
McGonigle said that, in addition to researching how students are affected, Student Senate will research how many students lose Internet rights in their residence hall rooms because of the new policy.
He said that last year the University received notification that 400 to 500 students were involved in illegal downloading.
“That’s a huge number, and if that many students are affected, we have a big problem,” McGonigle said.
Roney said that so far this semester, the University has been alerted of only one case of a student downloading from the Internet illegally.
“My guess is that it will be very few students who are actually affected,” Roney said.
Roney said if an unanticipated number of students are losing Internet access, the University will address any problems.
Roney said she is open to hearing from Student Senate.
“We will certainly sit down with senate leaders and discuss their concerns,” Roney said.
Wittlinger said that at that time, Student Senate will decide if the policy still needs to be revised.
“We’re all in agreement that the previous policy was too weak,” Wittlinger said. “We simply feel this policy is too extreme.”
— Edited by Elizabeth Cattell
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Comments
University to review piracy policy
I'm glad Student Senate is standing up against this misguided new policy. The RIAA has a terrible record of accuracy in their accusations, so "guilty until proven innocent" is not the right way to go here. It's too bad that our administrators allowed themselves to be bullyed by the recording industry.
How about this policy instead - anytime a student makes a complaint against a faculty member, the faculty member will have 5 academic days to appeal the complaint, after which time they will forfeit their tenure.
Sound fair?
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