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(Students protest ‘censorship' of state library links)

As Rapid City students protested his move to strip a link from a state Web site, Gov. Mike Rounds was giving the order to take down the entire page in question. About 50 people gathered over the noon hour Monday at Rapid City Public Library to join Students Against Censorship to protest action Rounds took Friday to remove a link that directed viewers from the state library's teen section to Planned Parenthood's teenwire.com site. Rounds said he objected to the link because the teenwire content is not appropriate for younger children and because it is sponsored by an organization that is politically active. "Of particular concern to me is, this is basically a Web site that literally has an affiliation or is an advocate of a political party or organization," Rounds told reporters Monday. "I believe it is appropriate public policy to identify this organization as having an advocacy program and, therefore, not necessarily conducive to being attached to a taxpayer supported Web site." Planned Parenthood lobbies to keep abortion legal, and Rounds, a Catholic, opposes abortion. A letter from Robert Carlson, bishop of the Sioux Falls Catholic diocese, asking him to remove the teenwire link made Rounds aware of the link. Rounds equated the teenwire link to a librarian reading Playboy during children's story hour. "I think moms and dads who've got kids 12, 13 or 14 years old would not want items on that Web site to be made readily available to their children from, of all places, a Web site sponsored by the taxpayers of South Dakota," Rounds said. On Monday, Rounds said he found other content he objected to and decided the library's entire teen page needed a review. He refused to identify the content he didn't like, and as he told reporters of his decision on a conference call, pieces of that page disappeared from computer screens. Rounds said he will assemble a panel to review links posted on the state's Web sites but said that panel probably would not be the state library board. Protester Abraham Rayton of Rapid City called the governor's move "a flagrant abuse of power" and said the student group formed over the weekend as a response to the governor's Friday action. Handing out Dum Dum brand lollipops, protest organizer Loy Maierhauser asked protesters to complain to Rounds at the governor's office in Pierre, 773-3212. "He has singled out one group to silence. This is a clear-cut case of censorship," Maierhauser said. "Today, it's a Web site, but it's not a big step from removing links on a Web site to removing books from shelves." On Friday, Rounds asked the state library board to vote to remove the teenwire link because it did not comply with state policy. In the morning, the board voted unanimously to keep the link but to get a copy of the policy in question and review all state library links for compliance. In the afternoon, an aide to the governor asked the library board to reverse its vote and said the governor would remove the link even if the board did not vote to do so. The board then voted 5-1 to remove the link. Maierhauser objected to the pressure Rounds put on the library board, but the governor defended his stand. "I intend to enforce state policy," Rounds said Monday. "One of the responsibilities I have as governor is making sure the executive branch of state government exercises good public policy judgment. If something doesn't fit that in my opinion, I believe I have a responsibility to see it gets corrected. That's what I intend to do." The policy in question, posted as a disclaimer on the state's main Web site, states that links to external Web sites "are not considered appropriate" if the external site is affiliated with or advocates for a political party, organization or candidate; contains content that is not suitable for viewers of all ages; or contains content that a reasonable citizen may not consider maintaining the dignity and decorum appropriate for government. Rounds said that a state library employee who no longer works there determined the content of the teen page but that he doesn't believe it is appropriate that one person's judgment be used to decide such matters. Then, he said he would not commit to abide by the decision of the panel he assembles to review the matter, saying he would be the final arbiter for the state's Web content. "Someone made the decision to advertise certain Web sites on our Web site. That's not appropriate," Rounds said. "I will use my judgment on what is appropriate, and I don't think there will be very many people disagreeing with me. It's a judgment call, but a judgment call has to be made now." Rounds said that because he is elected, he believes it is his responsibility to act in these kinds of situations. State library board member Eric Abrahamson of Rapid City was the single board member to vote against removing the teenwire link. He said Monday that the governor doesn't understand the function of a library. A library's purpose is to provide an array of information and points of view on many topics. "Libraries historically are protected from executive authority to insulate them from political pressure," Abrahamson said. "Other state agencies are different from the library." Rapid City Public Library is structured so that the mayor supervises the library staff but has no hiring or firing authority. Staff discipline and other decisions are left to the library board, Abrahamson said.