Tumblr is a great resource for us students, especially art students for references to professionals. Peoples own blogs and forming portfolio accounts are now blocked. There was no warning, just a sudden block of access. The school continues to act without voicing anything to us students. This is an infringement on our rights. 

Other Main concerns:

Educational Use:

"The mental health nursing course at iwu has been using tumblr for an assignment- we need this to communicate with each other!" - Courtney Maas
"Do you realize that several professors have students use tumblr for blogging assignments." – Maggie Slusher
“Please, I need to use it for my senior project, all my time logs and journals and resources are on there! I am doing an online magazine and everything I need is on my Tumblr. It's a blog hosting site. I am so discouraged and now stressed because I have been working hard and I can't get any work done on my senior project because the site I need to access is unexpectantly now blocked. My professors also need to see my blog so they can check my progress. I also get subscribers through Tumblr for my online magazine. Please, please unblock it.” – Breanna Sipple

Communicative:

"It's ironic that the university blocked tumblr; I created it and used it for almost purely academic reasons. When traveling throughout India this past summer for my international relations and international and community development internships, tumblr was way I kept my professors informed about my location and activities. In fact, one of the professors recommended I use tumblr! What concerns me the most though, is the lack of communication between the university and the student body. Why aren't there more open channels for communication between administration and students? Why are significant decisions planned and made only for students to be the last to find out - like when Pioneer's contract was renewed, or when the student handbook was revised, or when tumblr, a widely used blogging tool was blocked, or when Kirk Cameron was chosen as the 2012 World Changer (much to the student body's dismay)? I would list some of the better decisions the university has made on the student body's behalf, but because of the same lack of communication, I wouldn't know any of them!" – Beth Ezawa 
"As students we need to be trusted as adults to account for ourselves on the internet. College is about independence, and we are being tested everyday. There will always be some bad site out there, and the only way to fully protect us would be to not have internet. And since that's not going to happen, I believe we should be trusted to our own accountability. Tumblr is a site of expression, and taking the right to express ourselves away from us will not make anyone happy. I believe this is a terrible decision that IWU has made." - Tiffany Harris 

Business:
"I use Tumblr for my photography Business! You are making me lose money that is going STRAIGHT to this university! Why is this blocked?" – Fenway Park

“I use this site to further my career. I've been blogging on it for almost a year and because of my blog, I've gotten job offers that I can use. I was in no way using it for anything that IWU doesn't stand for. By blocking Tumblr, you're blocking a venue I use to reach out to others and also blocking my main networking opportunity. I've had hundreds of visitors on it in the past month alone and the fact that I can't answer questions and maintain my daily dedication to this is unacceptable. Not only are you hindering possibly job opportunities, you're furthering the idea that you don't trust the IWU students as adults to make educated and responsible decisions. I haven't had an issue with the silly blocks such as PostSecret but this is crossing a line." - Alli Walker

Ministry:
"breanna-lynn.tumblr.com All I post about is God and pictures that reflect His beauty and things that brighten my day. I have people message me on there that ask for prayer or spiritual questions, and although I just used it as a source of keeping all the quotes, verses, and pictures I liked in one place at first, now it has become a ministry and encouragement to others, especially spiritually. By blocking tumblr, you are blocking my only communication with them. So my reasons are not purely academic. They are personal, relational, and spiritual. I am a chaplain and prayer coordinator on campus and I would never use Tumblr for any other use than to glorify God and encourage other believers, which you could see if you looked at my blog. Please unblock it." - Breanna Sipple 

Inspiration: 
"I cannot help but be frustrated with this restriction of our ability to access a creative outlet, an academic tool, and a site that many use for businesses or career opportunities. The site is being blocked because of its adult rating. Are we not adults? How can we be expected to act as such academically, professionally, or in regards to our faith if we are being told we are children? As a writing major I consider Tumblr to be a valuable outlet for creativity as well as a place to search for inspiration. Ironically, any content I have come across that would conflict with my own personal beliefs has only served to strengthen my faith as well as my prayer life. I have found myself heartbroken on a number of occasions when perusing this site--an emotion that has led me to a renewed passion for certain areas of ministry I feel called to and awakened me to the affect my God given gift for words can have when I am able to connect and share with others. In an attempt to "block" students from being negatively affected I strongly believe we are actually being blocked from an opportunity to affect a broken and hurting world. How can we change the world if we are being cut-off from it?" - Grace Mitchell

"Tumblr is an extremely important asset for students on campus for various reasons. I, as a photography major, find it extremely helpful for references and building research for my art courses. It holds valuable information for all majors on campus. This site has also helped me immensely through my spiritual walk and has helped encourage me through several pastoral and literary findings. This site was created for recreational usage, but as you can clearly see, it has been made into an asset for educational, creative, and spiritual growth for students all over campus. We request that we gain access back to Tumblr, so we can continue using it's resources for the betterment of our time here at IWU." - Alexandra Asbury

Just an update. Several students brought this to the attention of several administrators last night. I received this message from University Information Technology. "Pending further review of "tumblr.com", I have unblocked it. It appears that it was only recently re-categorized by the iPrism filter, and I have asked our vendor to review how they have the site categorized. It was not something that IWU had changed."

Brandon D Hill, Ph.D. 
Assistant Dean for Student Engagement

brandon.hill@indwes.edu

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