For Immediate Release
Notre Dame Students Call for Campus-Wide Pornography Filter
Friday, October 26, 2018 8:00 PM EDT
Earlier this week, Notre Dame students called for a campus filter on pornographic websites. The request followed a petition that has generated over 1,000 signatures from the Notre Dame community over the past three years.
The call came in two open letters published in The Observer, Notre Dame’s student newspaper. The first letter, “The Men of Notre Dame Request a Porn Filter,” was signed by 81 male students. The letter requests that Notre Dame implement a pornography filter on the campus Wi-Fi network. The letter says, “As a university that champions social justice, human rights, equality, and dignity, Notre Dame ought to block pornography using the technology available to us. Doing so represents both an attempt to eradicate pornography from the campus culture and, more broadly, a strong stance against sexual assault, sex trafficking, and other human rights violations.”
The following day, Wednesday, October 24, 68 Notre Dame women published a response to “stand in solidarity” with the men’s request. Their letter, titled “Women of Notre Dame Response to Men’s Request for Filter,” addresses how pornography contributes to their objectification and the prevalence of sexual assault, saying, “Pornography propagates a mindset that people, especially women, are mere sex objects.”
Senior James Martinson led the men’s effort in his capacity as President of the club Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP). A nonpartisan and nonsectarian student club established in 2013, SCOP advocates for the development and implementation of child-oriented policies that respect the soundest understanding of the principles of universal human reason.
Martinson said of the pornography filter initiative, “Notre Dame has the opportunity to be a leader in the fight against pornography. A filter implementation by Notre Dame would have a significant ripple effect to combat sexual abuse, sexual assault, and the normalization of cruelty towards women.”
Sophomore Ellie Gardey, the Vice President of Students for Child-Oriented Policy, led the female effort. She commented, “As pornography is already prohibited at Notre Dame, a filter would be an additional measure to fight against the human rights violations brought about by pornography. University President Father John Jenkins should implement this filter in order to maintain Notre Dame’s mission of deep concern for the dignity of all people.”
Read the men’s letter here.
Read the women’s letter here.
View the ND Pornogrpahy Filter Signatures here.
James Martinson: jmartins@nd.edu
Ellie Gardey: egardey@nd.edu
