Butler University’s Information Technology department has the ability to read students’ email, but Chief Information Officer Scott Kincaid said it chooses not to do so.

“We have the technical ability, I don’t want to deny that,” Kincaid said. “We do it very rarely. And we do it only per a policy.”

The Privacy of Personally Created Content Policy was updated after Butler filed a lawsuit for online speech against student Jess Zimmerman in 2009 when he criticized Butler’s administration.

The policy states that Butler personnel may access students’ information if there is the possibility of “substantial university risk of harm or liability.”

The policy is referring to risk associated with the Butler network, said Ben Hunter, chief of staff and executive director of public safety.

Huner said BUPD has requested information twice in the last four years–about a student suicide and missing-student case.

Kincaid said since he came to Butler in 2001, IT has accessed students’ private information fewer than six times. He said the policy is very clear about the circumstances of when a student should be notified.

“If they were threatening the whole computer system in some fashion, we would have the right to notify them afterwards,” Kincaid said.

Before accessing students’ private information, Kincaid said IT would generally need approval from himself, a vice president or dean at the university and someone from human resources.

“If I had … any thought that someone was intending on bringing some kind of harm to individuals, I wouldn’t have to hesitate … in order to save the community,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson. “Whether it was a joke or however it was intended, we’re going to follow up on something like that.”

Johnson said he thinks adding a student representative into the process of deciding when a student’s privacy should be invaded would be a greater invasion of privacy.

Student Government Association President Mike Keller said he agreed personally with not adding a student representative but would represent the student body’s voice if it felt differently.

Azhar Majeed, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said while Butler has a pretty good free speech record, it may have overreacted to the case that brought about Butler suing one of its students in 2009.

Creating and switching to a private email is an option students should entertain if they are concerned about Butler’s monitoring capabilities, Majeed said.

“I know several people who use Gmail themselves just because they’re more comfortable knowing that is a more private thing to be able to utilize,” Keller said.

Johnson said students should be cautious with their language, regardless of where they say things online.

“Just like you wouldn’t and you’re not supposed to say certain things at an airport,” Johnson said. “You know what you shouldn’t be saying and insinuating and doing certain things with a computer as well.”

A new printing display depicting dollars instead of credits does not mean students have to pay.
When most students log in to a Butler computer, they will see a new display that shows they have $42.00 available to use for printing this year free of charge.
That is equivalent to the 1200 credits students received last year, Scott Kincaid, Butler IT’s Chief Information Officer, said.
Kincaid said any student who exceeds the allotted credit limit will not be charged for overages, meaning students of every academic discipline can print endlessly whether or not they paid for it.
Professional-phase pharmacy students will find an allotment equivalent to more than 4,000 credits this year because of the $950 they paid as a part of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ mobile computing program, which provides students with a laptop and other accessories, according to Kincaid.
“I don’t know if it’s fair or not,” said Emily Dubord, a sixth year student and P4 in the pharmacy program. “In theory it doesn’t seem like it would be (fair), but it doesn’t seem to be an issue.”
Tyler Johnston, a Butler IT project Manager, said the IT department compiled information three years ago showing COPHS printed excessively more than every other college on campus.
Butler then instituted printing allotments via the PrintSmart program to “make the most responsible use of Butler’s printing resources and support our commitment to be environmentally responsible,” according to Butler IT’s website.
Johnston used the PrintSmart software that relies on a 2003 UC-Berkeley study to show that all users killed a total 77.09 trees last academic year because of the 6,206,105 sheets of paper printed between Aug. 1, 2011 and May 31, 2012.
Derek Smith, a consultant on sustainability in the paper, print and packaging industries, said Butler is misleading its students.
In the United States, he said, just fewer than three trees are planted for every tree cut down, and forest cover is greater than any time since 1900.
“The truth, almost invariably, is they’re reducing the costs of paper consumption, not the environmental impact,” Smith said.
Kincaid said the program saves Butler close to $0.035 for every page not printed.
In the 2011-2012 academic year, Butler students printed 1.6 million pages less than in the 2009-2010 academic year, before the PrintSmart program began.
Johnston said the IT department tried and failed to track down how much less paper was purchased because each department buys its own paper.
While IT failed tracking down how much paper was purchased, it can succeed in tracing Butler students’ printing habits.
Using the PrintSmart software, Johnston said “you can see who printed what where.”
Johnston said the ‘what’ refers to the title of what is being printed, not the content of what was printed.
Johnston also said each department will now receive a monthly report detailing its printing habits and added that his department has not dug into data regarding students in the last couple of years.
“There’s been no reason to,” Johnston said, “and we don’t want there to be. We just want people to be responsible.”
“If somebody is printing five thousand or ten thousand pages, we can go tap them on the shoulder,” Kincaid said.