IU: Web exposure no cause for discipline
Racy photos posted of female student didn't violate code of conduct, dean decides.
By Barb Berggoetz
barb.berggoetz@indystar.com
April 13, 2004
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An Indiana University student will not be disciplined for posting partially nude photos of herself on an adult Web site, university officials in Bloomington said Monday.
IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig said he decided the 18-year-old freshman's actions did not warrant sanctions after consulting the Office of Student Ethics and IU police.
"While the university doesn't condone the activity, it comes down to acts by a private, adult citizen," McKaig said.
He said the young woman is not violating any state law, her conduct did not rise to the level of violating the student conduct code and she is not using any university computing system to provide her photos to the Web site, which has been operating since early March.
The student, who goes by the pseudonym "teen Keira," lives on the seventh floor of Briscoe Residence Hall in the Shoemaker wing. The Gas City native's identity has not been revealed publicly and efforts to contact her Monday through a student representative at the dorm were unsuccessful.
When the Web site was discovered last week, McKaig had said the student could be disciplined for using university property without authorization for a commercial enterprise.
The Web site costs $24.95 monthly.
McKaig said Monday that he considered her photos of a shower area and the inside of a residence hall room to be "incidental uses" of IU property that were not exploitative and could not be clearly identified as IU property. An evacuation notice on the back of a door is the only place where "IU" can be seen in print.
"She has been cooperative and said she would avoid pictures with any IU symbol or brand name," McKaig said.
He said her willingness to cooperate contributed to the decision not to impose any discipline, which could have ranged from a reprimand to expulsion.
Orange Image, a Raleigh, N.C.-based company, manages the Web site. Will Linthicum, company founder, said the IU student's boyfriend contacted him about posting the photos. "My main concern is her and her well-being," Linthicum said late last week, hoping that she wouldn't be disciplined and expelled.
Linthicum said the student is paid one-third of the sales revenue, after expenses. Wednesday and Thursday, after the Indiana Daily Student, IU's student newspaper, revealed the site, it made close to $3,000, he said.
"We're up about 30 (memberships) a day," he said.
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