Administrators are usually more than happy to bow to the demands of their students on a wide range of issues, whether it’s creating new “safe spaces,” adopting more restrictive speech codes, or providing additional resources for this or that minority group.
But when it comes to banning porn in the #MeToo era, administrators aren’t always so obliging.
President John Jenkins of the University of Notre Dame rejected a petition from students to remove pornography from campus wi-fi on March 7, saying that the university would instead encourage students to “adopt filters voluntarily.”
Jenkins’ letter came in response to an open letter published in October 2018 in The Observer student newspaper. The letter, signed by 80 male students, calls on the university to live up to its “social justice” principles and effectively censor pornography on campus.
The open letter noted that although “the Notre Dame Internet Compliance Policy prohibits the access of pornographic material … the University has not enforced this policy.”
“We’re still in discussions with the University and are at the same time exploring other pathways of enacting this kind of change at Notre Dame,” James Martinson, a student at the university leading the anti-porn efforts, told The College Fix in October, before Jenkins’ announcement.
This decision stands in stark contrast to the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., whose spokesperson said last week that the school is “grateful” for an April 2 vote by the student government to ban hundreds of pornographic websites, and would consider meeting students’ demands.
The student government resolution called on administrators to “[prohibit] access to the top 200 pornography sites through the campus network.”
“While resolutions of the SGA are not binding on the administration,” campus spokeswoman Karna Lozoya told The College Fix, “it is difficult to ignore the firm stance against pornography made by our student body.”
“No decision has been made on the ban, but the University is grateful to the SGA for bringing to our attention their desire that we ban pornography on the University network,” Lozoya added.
Since January, several Catholic colleges, in addition to Notre Dame and the Catholic University, have experienced pushback from their students for allowing students to access porn over their campus’ wireless internet network.
Amelia Irvine, a senior at Georgetown University, petitioned the Jesuit-run school to install a porn filter on campus in January.
“Georgetown seeks to educate its students on the harms of alcohol abuse and sexual assault, but completely ignores the addiction that can fuel sexual assault: pornography addiction,” Irvine told The College Fix.
Notably, all of these initiatives are student-led and not based solely on strict adherence to the traditional moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Rather, the students who have advocated for these “porn filters” have largely done so on the basis of scientific research demonstrating the harmful psychological effects of consuming porn. Also cited as a reason is that some pornographic videos portray violence against women (an issue colleges are usually not shy about tackling).
Catholic University of America Student Body president Jimmy Harrington, who signed the anti-porn resolution, told The College Fix that he supports it “not from purely religious or Catholic grounds,” but because of “the pornographic industry’s relation to sex trafficking and its portrayal of individuals that leads to their objectification.”
“In the United States, three of the top ten most-visited websites are pornographic,” Irvine told The College Fix in January. “Internet porn use is quite common among young people; a March 2017 study found that 10 percent of college students are clinically addicted to cybersex.”
While Martinson’s push to ban porn at Notre Dame has reached an impasse, he said one of the effects of his efforts has been to start a wider conversation across college campuses.
“This kind of exposure has allowed so many people to think differently about how many students feel about pornography consumption and how it affects individuals, relationships and campus communities,” Martinson told The College Fix in fall 2018.
Troy Worden is a recent graduate in English and philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was president of the Berkeley College Republicans in 2017.
