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United States News Title: Shameless GOP Stooge Has Fit, Censors Entire Library Because He's Mad at the NYT. Whines Like Little Girl. UIW library boss cancels the N.Y. Times in protest The dean of library services at the University of the Incarnate Word has canceled the library's subscription to the New York Times to protest articles exposing a secret government program that monitors international financial transactions in the hunt for terrorists. "Since no one elected the New York Times to determine national security policy, the only action I know to register protest for their irresponsible action (treason?) is to withdraw support of their operations by canceling our subscription as many others are doing," Mendell D. Morgan Jr. wrote Wednesday in an e-mail to library staffers. "If enough do, perhaps they will get the point." The university released a statement Thursday saying Morgan had the authority to remove the newspaper. "The University of the Incarnate Word does not take an official position on the recent decision to cancel the subscription of the New York Times at the university's library," the statement said. "This decision was made by the administrator in charge of the library whose authority extends to the contents of the library, and thus it was within his purview to make this decision. The university is supportive of the First Amendment, a free press and of the presentation of diverse points of view." Morgan was on vacation and not available for comment. UIW President Lou Agnese and board Chairman Fully Clingman also were away and couldn't be reached for comment. The move outraged library staffers, who complained the dean was censoring information based on personal beliefs. Staff member Jennifer Romo said she and her co-workers were shocked when they received Morgan's e-mail. "The censorship is just unspeakable," Romo said. "There is no reason, no matter what your beliefs, to deny a source of information to students." The removal also runs counter to the American Library Association's Bill of Rights, which states: "Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval." The New York Times, followed by other papers, published the articles. The Bush administration and conservative bloggers and commentators quickly attacked the reports, lashing out at media, especially the Times. Vice President Dick Cheney singled out the newspaper during a speech in Nebraska. In a letter to the Times posted on the Treasury Department's Web site, outgoing Secretary John Snow said the paper "alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails." U.S. Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a letter released Monday that the attorney general should investigate the Times for possible violation of the Espionage Act. The House on Thursday approved a Republican-crafted resolution condemning news organizations for revealing the program, saying the disclosure had "placed the lives of Americans in danger." The resolution, passed 227-183 on a largely party-line vote, didn't specifically name the Times or other news organizations that reported the story. The Times reported Tuesday that its managing editor, Bill Keller, said in an e-mail statement that the decision to publish the story was "a hard call." He noted the Bush administration has launched a number of "broad, secret programs" aimed at fighting terrorism since 9-11. He went on to say: "I think it would be arrogant for us to pre-empt the work of Congress and the courts by deciding these programs are perfectly legal and abuse-proof, based entirely on the word of the government." In his e-mail to library staff, Dean Morgan wrote of a "change in quality and shift in coverage in what was once 'the national newspaper of record'" and said that neither average citizens nor enemy terrorists needed to know about the classified program in a time of war. Romo, the UIW library staffer, said she respects Morgan's opinion about the newspaper's decision to publish the reports. She added, however, that using the university library is the wrong way to express his views. "We understand that pornography and things not of an academic nature don't have a place in the library, but this is the New York Times," Romo said. "Whether it leans either way, it is still a staple and representation of views in our country." Romo's colleague, Tom Rice, a recent graduate of the University of North Texas library sciences program, said that in pulling the Times, the library contradicted everything he learned in school. "We felt like we were in an alternate reality when we read the e-mail," Rice said. "Then we realized how serious it was." Andrew Herkovic, communications director for Stanford University's libraries in California, said staffers make decisions about what they collect for readers, but don't make those decisions on political grounds. Like UIW, Stanford is a private university. "We would not withhold information from our readers as an expression of disapproval of an important news source," Herkovic said. Two UIW students studying outside the library Thursday said they took issue with the Times reports, but did not think it was appropriate to remove the newspaper from the library because it's an academic source. "I don't think they should have done it," said Richard Renteria, a 29-year-old senior. This isn't the first time librarians have resisted pressure to limit patrons' freedom or access to information. This week, federal authorities dropped their demand under the U.S. Patriot Act for the identities of patrons who logged on to a Connecticut public library computer in February 2005. The decision came more than a year after local librarians resisted and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit. At least one media-watcher said she doubts Morgan's move will have much impact. "In the real world, it's an almost futile act on many levels," said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla. "From what we know about the reading habits of college students, it will not make a difference because they read online."
Poster Comment: What a weenie..
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#1. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
Did he disconnect the computers too?
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