On January 28, 1997 U.S. District Court Judge Wayne E. Alley ruled that universities have a right to limit access to explicit material on the Internet.  Claiming his First Amendment right to free speech was violated, University of Oklahoma journalism professor Bill Loving challenged an action by the university president to limit access to which sites students and faculty can view while on the University's Internet system.

University President David Boren said he instituted the policy of limiting access to sexually explicit sites, not because he wanted to censor free speech, but because he was afraid the university could be found guilty of distributing obscene material, which is a felony in Oklahoma.

Loving, who represented himself in the suit, sought a declaration that his Constitutional rights were violated and also and injunction against the University to discontinue restricting access to Internet news groups it deemed obscene.  In his ruling for the University, Judge Alley said Loving's Constitutional rights were not violated because he had failed to demonstrate that he was irreparably harmed by the University's policy and he had not presented any evidence that anyone had attempted to reach the news groups.  First Amendment advocates disagree with the Oklahoma judge's holding claiming the University should not have the authority to censor the speech of its students.

1997 Robin D. Gross
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