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June 2, 2008 - Minutes
Present: Greg Sparks, Pam Gerace, Keith Nichols, Matt Peterson, David Drooz, Paul Cousins, Sam Averitt, Steve Keto, Susan Grant, Stan North Martin, PJ Teal, Harry Nicholos, Leslie Dare, Tom Stafford
1. Student Violations (Paul Cousins)
- Processing of violation notifications to be transitioned from OIT to Student Conduct. Trying to automate the initial phases and educate students about consequences.
- This will more than double the current load of cases processed by Student Conduct.
- Also under review are the current sanctions for violations. There are several hurdles. First, the consequences can't really be formula driven because of the varying way/levels in which the notifications of violations are received by the RIAA (and NBC Universal, but vast majority are RIAA). Second, there is poor quality of evidence.
- Info by Matt Peterson: We need to put together a response that will show we are really taking this seriously. Unless higher education can form a PAC (which seems unlikely) then we have to clearly respond. The potential consequences are huge - we could be fined, as a university, for our students' violations. Higher ed is truly a target because we're vulnerable, even though illegal file sharing on campuses account for less than 8% of all illegal file sharing.
- Suggested by Matt Peterson: limit file sharing software in the residence halls since the vast majority of use is for illagel purposes; our students are special targets; this would protect them, reduces teh evidentiary question.
- Response by group:
- there are very legitimate uses for file sharing software and turning off access would have a huge impact;
- this would fly in the face of net neutrality;
- our goal is to provide a ubiquious computing environment everywhere, so it needs to be everywhere;
- while legitimate traffic may be a small portion, it is no less important;
- internet access and ability to engage in file sharing is really part of the infrastructure we provide, so to turn it off up front is really punishment without a violation;
- our role is to educate, not parent; in the K-12 system, the response is to lock it down to prevent anything wrong from ahppening; in higher ed, our goal is to help students learn what the real world is like, and shutting it down doesn't help us achieve that.
- Comment by Greg Sparks: at recent EDUCAUSE policy conference, this was widely discussed. Penalties seem to be what is working.
2. Other Solutions
- In addition to more educaiton and clear judicial sanctions, other ideas were shared.
- Greg Sparks: University of Florida uses a product that monitors for file sharing activity, then sends an email to student. It is educational - "hey, we noticed you are file sharing. Did you know that it can be illegal?"
- Sam Averitt: have students register file sharing software as a matter of policy, which makes them officially say "I understand" the consequence.
- Greg Sparks: idea form EDUCAUSE conference is to charge a fine or a fee. However, this would be problematic given how fines and fees are administered. It would have to be a very carefully crafted "miscellaneous service charge" and would be difficult to implement.
3. Employee Violations (Harry Nicholos)
- Processing of violation notifications to be transitioned from OIT to Human Resources
- Efforts underway to develop consistent process and consequences
4. Other Updates
- David Drooz: The Ruckus contract is now expired. (David Drooz)
- Pam Gerace: It is now going to cost students $7,000 (up from $4,000) to settle.
- Tom Stafford will be asking Mark Hoit (the new CIO and Vice Chancellor for IT) to take leadership of this effort when he arrives this fall.
5. Education (Leslie Dare)
- News Services involved in developing education/publicity efforts; comment by Keith Nichols (NS) - RIAA strategy is shifting from federal to state; whatever we do, it has to be well thought out and clearly a university-supported position.
- Continued emphasis during New Student Orientation, Parent Orientation & New Employee Orientation
- Information included in “ComTech Calendar” (distributed to every on-campus student in August)
- Educational pieces to be developed for various campus publications: Housing publications, Bulletin, listservs, etc.
- Information to be shared with various campus groups: Student Government, Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, Personnel Reps, Chancellor’s Liaison Group, etc.
- Consistent “message” for above to be developed after student judicial consequences are finalized.
6. Next Steps
- Violations and Judicial Consequences
- Dr. Stafford will work with Paul Cousins and others to hammer out.
- Campus Education
- Dr. Stafford will speak specifically on this topic during his remarks at Parents Orientation this summer.
- Dr. Stafford will ask Evelyn Reiman to help him find ways to involve student government.
- Susan Grant has offered to help develop materials, many of which can be given to students through various University Housing venues, including floor meetings, housing newsletter and so on.. She will also help get IRC involved.
- An effort will be made to share information and materials with feeder high schools and community colleges.
- Other Alternatives
- Some small groups will investigate possibility of implementing:
- The "hey, we noticed you are file sharing" email/software
- Registration of file sharing software
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