Latest computer policy for Nevada colleges still misses ACLU mark

Stacy J. Willis

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 11:18 a.m.

Nevada's ACLU director called the state university and college system's latest computer use policy "significantly flawed" and "incomplete."

The University and Community College System of Nevada released the fifth revision of the policy earlier this week, hoping it would allay concerns about computer privacy issues raised by faculty and ACLU representatives.

The policy is aimed at protecting the state's higher education institutions from liability if computers are misused -- for example, if illegal software or pornographic material is loaded on a computer. Some 20,000 people use computers at one of the state's universities or community colleges.

But critics said that earlier drafts went too far, allowing administrators or computer technicians too much access to faculty or student files.

The latest revision of the draft is significantly less intrusive than the previous four, said Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU in Southern Nevada, but it is not acceptable to civil libertarians.

"I applaud them for their efforts, but it remains incomplete and significantly flawed," Peck said.

Peck said the draft is lacking a broad statement about the college system's commitment to academic freedom, the First Amendment and a right to privacy. It also lacks a list of specific circumstances under which administrators could access faculty computers, a limit on which files they could access and a clause providing due process protection for faculty and student computer-users, he said.

"The next step should be bringing together all of the interested representatives -- student, faculty, staff -- who will be affected, to address the policy," Peck said.

But UNLV Pres. Carol Harter is satisfied with the new policy proposal.

"I'm very happy with the latest draft. It gets itself in far less trouble because it is less detailed," she said.

Jane Nichols, UCCSN vice chancellor for academic affairs, said that she will continue to work with the interested parties.

"But sometimes, I wish we'd never decided to draft this in the first place," Nichols said. "But the state system needs a computer policy."

The Board of Regents will vote on the policy this spring when interested parties come to a compromise on a final draft.