An oversight in Blackboard's course creation tool recently allowed a group of students to create a virtual course listing for a class titled "Welfare 101," described as "how to not be a poor black man," raising concern over the use of university computing resources.
The course listing contained racial slurs as well as insensitive images and text.
After inquiry by the Collegiate Times, the listing was removed from Blackboard.
Frederick Tanner and Philip Gilliam, a sophomore HNFE major, were listed on the course's staff information page. Gilliam refused an interview with the Collegiate Times and Tanner released a statement addressing the matter.
"The course creation wizard was previously available as a module within blackboard, alongside other popularly used modules such as the dictionary, thesaurus, and calculator. It was popular opinion among my peers that if the university did not want the tool to be used to its fullest extent, they would have disabled the module. I did not create the course, nor did I condone the content," said Tanner in a statement.
Mark Owczarski, director of news and information for university relations, said the university purchased the software for the entire Blackboard suite one year ago. The software was a new product that was deployed for online courses and came with all the defaults to allow users interface with the product were all turned on.
When installing the program, the technical team tailored the program to the needs of Virginia Tech.These needs meant allowing only Virginia Tech faculty the right to post courses on Blackboard.
However, not all of these settings were changed.
Randy Marchany, director of the IT security lab, said, "These undocumented features are endemic to any software."
The setting that allowed courses to be posted was not changed, which allowed for any person with a Virginia Tech PID to post a class on Blackboard.
This is how "Welfare 101" was posted. The recent incident has been the first and only of its kind on Blackboard, Owczarski said.In response, Information Technology Services has since changed the settings to allow only faculty the right to post materials.
Information Technology Services will provide the information to the appropriate offices and channels, such as Judicial Affairs, regarding the posting of "Welfare 101." From this point, based on the information given, Judicial Affairs will determine if further action will be taken, Owcwarski said.
The first step is the standards for acceptable use of university services.
"There are certain rules that govern the use of university computing equipment that we are all required to follow," Owczwarski said.
"The posting of offensive materials is not consistent with acceptable use policies."
According to the acceptable use of information system at Virginia Tech policy, acceptable use of resources includes only authorized usage.The second standard is Tech's Principles of Community.
Included in the statement of the Principles of Community are affirmations dedicated to "the inherent dignity and value of every person and strive to maintain a climate for work and learning based on mutual respect and understanding."
"The Principles of Community asks us all to take ownership of those kinds of offensive materials and turn to each other and say 'Hey, that's not cool, we don't support that kind of humor,"' Owczarski said.
The acceptable use rules of university computing services are often violated, especially in regard to the downloading of copyrighted materials such as music and movies.
"In the case of music and movie downloads, We don't monitor content, we monitor the amount of downloads." "For other things, if they submit a complaint, that will warrant additional monitoring," Marchany said.
Filebox, another information service offered to students by the university, allows students to upload files and publish Web sites.
"It is the electronic equivalent of a dorm room," Owczarski said. "Can Virginia Tech police or monitor all that content? The answer is no," Owczarski said. "But then the other question would be would we even want to do that? At what point does it become an infringement of personal space and privacy?"
Ultimately, Owczarski said the goal of the university is to maintain academic freedom and embrace all ideas.Tracking and monitoring of offensive or illegal materials hosted on university computer services depends on third-party sources reporting the material, whether it is the record companies reporting on illegal downloading or students finding offensive materials.
"The intent of these resources is for educational purposes," Owczarski said. "We are all, students, faculty, and staff, bound by the Principles of Community, by acceptable use standards, and the student honor code."