🚀 go-pugleaf

cbs@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Chris Syed) writes:

[...]
>   Is there evidence that the banners and burners are becoming 
>   a threat, say, to medical libraries?
[...]

No.

But I think the bans do hurt students, especially undergraduates, who
have less chance to learn about and discuss topics that may be of
interest to them. Seeing your bibliography on alt.sex, for example,
may help a student decide to study sexuality formally. Even even the
student doesn't pursue formal study, access to such information helps
further the general academic mission:

"Academic institutions exist for the transmission of knowledge, the
pursuit of truth, the development of students, and the general
well-being of society. Free inquiry and free expression are
indispensable to the attainment of these goals. As members of the
academic community, students should be encouraged to develop the
capacity for critical judgment and to engage in a sustained and
independent search for truth."

- Carl

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

(All these documents are available on-line. Access information follows.)

=================
academic/student.freedoms.aaup
=================
Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students -- This is the main
U.S. statement on student academic freedom.

=================
=================

These document(s) are available by anonymous ftp (the preferred
method) and by email. To get the file(s) via ftp, do an anonymous ftp
to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4), and get file(s):

  pub/academic/academic/student.freedoms.aaup

To get the file(s) by email, send email to archive-server@eff.org.
Include the line(s) (be sure to include the space before the file
name):

send acad-freedom/academic student.freedoms.aaup


-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =