Judy
Is there a computer cluster somewhere where someone can be safe from pornography and harassment? I’m sick of this.
Kim, the University’s Director of Academic Computing, knew from a conversation with the University Ombudswoman what Judy Hamilton was complaining about: she had gone into a public computing cluster and sat down next to a male student whose screen was displaying a graphic image of a sexual act. Judy had asked the student to remove the image, since it was interfering with her ability to work comfortably, and he’d refused—loudly and contentiously. After a shouting match, Judy left to find someplace else to work. She complained to friends, and to the Ombudswoman, who sent her to Kim.
Kim knew that hard-core displays such as had offended Judy were relatively rare, but that other offending images—nudes, for example, and even animal-experiment photos from a server maintained by an outspoken faculty member. Many students would quietly remove offending images when someone else complained, but others would refuse, citing free speech. “I like this stuff and it helps me keep working,” a male student had written Kim in another instance. “Why,” the student had concluded, “is my work less important than hers?”
The University’s policies forbade harassment, but not pornography. The harassment policy probably applied to Judy’s case, Kim thought, but its remedies fell short of what Judy wanted: for Kim and the University to forbid the display of pornographic images, and perhaps to enforce the ban technologically. Kim would need to define “pornographic,” which was not necessary under the University’s current policy. Then again, Kim needed a definition “harassment,” which didn’t appear any easier.
Kim perceived two tasks: to respond to Judy’s message, and to decide whether the University needed better or different policies to deal with her situation.
© 2013 Gregory A Jackson
This case is to promote discussion, not to document good or poor handling of a situation. All names have been changed.