Stupid Prank or Sexual Harassment?

More facts:

On November 30, 1998, an anonymous posting was made to the newsgroup that included only a link to a webpage. By clicking on the link, the user went to a webpage titled "Welcome to C-11's Temple of Death." The webpage was not hosted on a University server, but anonymously on an off-campus commercial server.

The background of the "Temple" was black with red text and drawings. The page focused on two class members, Ronnie Roe and Donnie Doe. Ronnie and Donnie were constant participants in class discussion and were generally disliked by other class members. The webpage made fun of the things they said in class, the way they looked and the way they behaved in general. Comments included "These two dorks are the most annoying guys ever created . . . I wish they would do us all a favor and kill themselves." There were also many varied and explicit statements about Donnie and Ronnie's sexual preferences. The webpage encouraged the two to "come on out of the closet . . . Ronnie and Donnie are so gay that they make Ellen DeGeneres look straight." The page also contained "stick person" drawings of figures raping two men, as well as stabbing, shooting and hanging them. Although it expressed dislike for Ronnie and Donnie, the page did not advocate that the reader take any particular course of action towards them.

On November 31, the faculty member in charge of the course removed the link from the newsgroup and lectured the class about their ethical responsibilities as computer programmers. The students who had not seen the link the day before did not know what he was talking about. After class therefore several students re-posted the link so that the other students could see what the fuss was about. Before the end of the day, every member of the class, and other students who had heard about it from class members, had viewed the page. Because the identity of the creator of the webpage was unknown, nothing could be done about removing hte page.

After this, Ronnie and Donnie said they were uncomfortable in class. They said that people would laugh when they answered questions in class, and that no one took them seriously any more, including the professor. Saying that they felt they could learn nothing in such an environment, the two stopped attending class.

On December 3, a student overheard Jack Sprat and Jill Jones laughing about the webpage. She then reported them to the C-11 professor. The professor confronted Jack and Jill, who did not deny the charges but refused to take down the webpage. Ronnie and Donnie then filed a complaint with the University's sexual harassment office. After a hearing, the University found that the page had created a hostile learning environment for them, and Jack and Jill were expelled.

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