Faculty senate dusts off censorship policy

Shoreline Community College has approved a policy that supports intellectual freedom on campus, addressing issues such as censorship in the libraries and in the classroom, access to information, and privacy rights.

Last spring the Faculty Senate Council (FSC) created a subcommittee charged with the task of revising a 36-year-old policy concerning intellectual freedom. The old policy 5270 primarily concerned censorship of books and other print media in the library. It needed to be updated to also include language protecting electronic media. But the new policy was broadened beyond the scope of the library to include guidelines concerning academic freedom, access to information, and privacy rights throughout the campus.

"We felt strongly that the college needed to have a clear and unambiguous policy in defense of academic freedom, in defense of the library to make decisions about what goes on the shelves (and) in defense of student/ faculty privacy when it comes to records and when it comes to the use of the internet, " said Ed Harkness, English professor and member of the policy subcommittee.

According to Elena Bianco, reference and public services librarian and member of the subcommittee, there was no specific event that inspired the new policy, other than the fact that the previous one was 36 years old. But it's clear that the current political environment did influence some of the policy content. The Patriot Act for example weighed on the minds of the subcommittee as they wrote the guidelines concerning privacy rights.

“I think (the) Patriot Act made us feel like we really do want to reiterate issues about students right to privacy” says Bianco. She pointed out that provisions in the act give the FBI the authority to view library patron records. Under the Patriot Act the FBI can even issue a gag order that would prevent the library from informing the public that an intrusion had occurred in the first place. But SCC library patrons need not worry about their library records falling into the FBI's hands. Our library as well as many other libraries across the nation, only keeps records of materials you have currently checked out. It does not keep records of what materials you have checked out in the past.

The policy is made up of four sections. The first section, "Freedom to Read and View," states the library's policy regarding censorship. It states that the library will make available materials based on their educational value alone and that it will not exclude material because of controversial or offensive content.

In fact there have been very few requests to remove library materials. That's not to say that the library has never been censored. There are some forms of censorship that are difficult to prevent, such as when items are stolen from the library by people who don't want others to view them.

“Its not unusual for any library to be missing material of a controversial nature,” says Tom Moran, dean of library media and distance learning who is also on the subcommittee “It's not a huge problem, but it does happen.”

In one case 8 years worth of Playboy Magazine on microfilm disappeared from the library. According to Moran, the film is useless unless you own your own microfilm machine, which costs several thousand dollars, so its unlikely the thief stole them for personal use.

The second section, "Academic Freedom," specifies the right of faculty to choose any textbook, learning materials, and teaching method they and their department deem necessary to fulfill the educational needs of students. It also states that the rights of students to free expression will "at all times be protected and respected."

The third section, "Access to Information," states that all SCC students and faculty will have access to all library resources including print and electronic media, as well as unfiltered access to the Internet. This policy also extends to all public areas of the campus.

The fourth and final section of the 5271 "Privacy Rights" simply states that SCC will not allow unwarranted invasions of privacy when it comes to personal information including employee records, access to online information, and library patron records. The policy went through extensive scrutiny before the wording was finalized. It was submitted for feedback to all faculties on campus via the faculty list serve. It was shown to the Shoreline Community College Federation of Teachers, student government, the SCC attorney general, the Faculty Senate Council and other SCC organizations before it was finally approve by the SCC board of trustees.

5271 is now SCC policy. While it isn't a legally binding document the subcommittee says it will serve an important purpose for students and faculty. "It's a statement of the philosophy on campus," says Bianco. “It relates to (the students and faculties) ability to access information freely without regard to political or other biases.”