There are no data providing the effectiveness of Whitworth's Internet filter in preventing or decreasing access to pornography.
To have data would mean accessing the information recorded in the logs which is against policy, network manager Walt Seidel said.
Whitworth's Internet filter records and logs all internet access through Whitworth's servers, recording what Web site a person visited, what the user's Internet Protocol (IP) address is and at what time and date the site was accessed.
"[The Internet filter] is by no means a cure all [in preventing people from accessing porn]," a junior male student struggling with porn said. "But I personally appreciate it."
The male student said he mostly uses proxy sites to bypass the Internet filter.
Jim McPherson, associate professor of communications studies, said a concern he has with the Internet filter is having it viewed as solving the problem of students struggling with pornography.
Besides the support group for male students struggling with pornography that started this semester, McPherson said he hasn't seen much of the other options administrators said they would have along with the filter since its implementation.
"There are so many other places in our society with easy access to pornography that just a filter just on campus won't do much for people who need help," said Jim McPherson, associate professor of communications studies. "I think the answer is to recognize problems when we can and to educate them and provide education resources."
One argument made by students and faculty who are skeptical about the filter is how arguments can be made about a wide variety of things that are not aiding the educational mission at Whitworth – a point that contributed to the decision to add an Internet filter.
"There are lots of things that can be harmful or be viewed as harmful and I worry about an administration that might think it needs to protect its students from everything," McPherson said.
One kind of sites McPherson mentioned are not currently blocked that he considers a type of porn are "Pro Ana Mia" sites -- sites that promote anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa as a lifestyle.
However, individuals who are supportive of the decision to have a filter implemented are also aware of the filter's limitations.
"No matter what sort of preventive means you take, unless you really change yourself in the heart and see why you are looking at porn, it's just going to keep going up again," the junior male student said.
Robinson shared the same sentiment in an announcement made in 2001.
"All technologies designed to screen Internet materials are fallible. Ultimately, individuals determine what they put into their minds and hearts," Robinson said in the announcement.
Click here to read the rest of the series on pornography at Whitworth.
Contact Yong Kim at yong.kim@whitworthian.com.
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