It could happen to you. A bright red stop sign-shaped image pops up on your screen, stopping you from going any further in your Internet search. As you frantically try to close the window without anyone thinking about what you may be up to, remember that at BYU, YouTube is not allowed.
In an effort to be more consistent with its mission statement, BYU limited Internet surfing in fall 2006 to exclude sites like YouTube from campus.
BYU implements many strategies to maintain the Honor Code. The offensiveness that can be found on YouTube is what qualifies it to be blocked from campus.
"YouTube relies on its users to report offensive videos, and unfortunately not all of them are removed promptly," BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. "BYU's network resources can't be the means for these videos to be made available."
BYU does allow some video-sharing sites on campus.
"Some other video-sharing sites, such as Google Video, use different internal filtering systems that do a better job of catching offensive content," Jenkins said. "That's why Google Video is available on the BYU network. Now that Google has acquired YouTube, we hope that someday those systems will also be applied to YouTube."
The limitation makes an impact on students of all ages. Some incoming freshmen who have recently learned about YouTube being blocked on campus have questions about the rule, but are not entirely upset about it.
"Why is it blocked? The assumption that YouTube is entirely bad is wrong," said Jenn Woodward, a freshman majoring in physical and developmental biology. "I have some issues with it, but YouTube is not a necessity. My life has gone on without it."
Students, single and married, will also find that Internet restrictions also apply to on-campus housing. Older students said that while the reasons are understood, the YouTube restriction is inconvenient.
"I understand BYU's argument that YouTube takes up too much space on campus computers that are for the sole purpose of education," said Erik Agle, a senior majoring in music dance theatre. "For students like myself, who major in the performing arts, there is a wealth of valuable educational material on YouTube that our educational provider is preventing us from accessing."
Agle's wife, Darlene, suggested the policy is still fair.
"I've lived on campus for four years now, so I don't know exactly what I'm missing, but I bet it's a good lot," she said. "We deal with a 24-7 block, not just a school day inconvenience."
Every department on campus has its own mission statement, including the Office of Information and Technology - the department that oversees open access computer labs and the on-campus Internet connection.
The mission statement of the Office of IT is "to enrich the BYU environment by making it inspiring, comforting, productive and safe," according to its Web site.
"Once students know the university's reason for not making YouTube available, they are generally quite accepting of the decision," Jenkins said.
Copyright Brigham Young University 10 Sep 2008
