Sheriff’s deputies impounded two computers July 3 from the public-access area of the learning resources center of Edison Community College’s Collier County campus in Naples, Florida, to examine the hard drives for possible terrorist activity. However, investigators could find no suspicious files and returned both to the college the following week.
Learning Resources Director Mary Faulkner told American Libraries that a concerned staff member had alerted the campus public safety office after seeing three men use the computers to access Middle Eastern newspapers and other Islamic Web sites. Campus police then requested the assistance of the county sheriff’s office.
“It was a judgment call that was made, probably correctly given the times,” Faulkner said. “It was handled as discreetly as it could be, and we are real comfortable with the outcome.”
Posted July 15, 2002.