Anime photos, including pornographic images, were accessible through a math and computer science Web site for the past eight years, but yesterday the university shut it down.

The site was terminated for copyright violations, said Joseph Aulino, associate vice president of information services.

Computer systems analyst Jeff Bailey said he created the site in 1996 with no educational intentions.

Bailey's site was dedicated to anime, which is defined as "a style of animation developed in Japan, characterized by stylized colorful art, futuristic setting, violence and sex," in the American Heritage Dictionary.

Math department chair Andrew Tonge and Johnnie Baker, chair of the computer science department, both said the site had nothing to do with their programs.

Because of this, the site is in violation of the University Policy Register, which states sites must "relate to the university's missions of teaching, research and service."

"If the site is unrelated to the university, it is inappropriate," said Neumann, interim vice president of university relations and development.

Bailey said he made the Web site mostly for himself -- for entertainment. He also is the sponsor of the KSU Anime Association.

Bailey's site, amber.mcs.kent.edu/anime, featured hundreds of anime images from more than 100 anime films. Many images were not explicit, although some did contain nudity and sexual situations.

Bailey said the images did involve sex but "not more than any other form of entertainment."

The anime club's site, which is not associated with Bailey's, states "some special forms of anime also are directed towards the 'adult content' genre, and are not shown here."

Arden Ruttan, Bailey's boss, said he knew Bailey created the site but was unaware of any explicit material.

"It's hard to judge what is explicit," said Ruttan, systems director of the math and computer science department.

Ruttan said Bailey's "academic freedom" should be respected, even though he said he finds it to be in bad taste. He does, however, support the university's decision to remove the site on the basis of copyright legality.

Network security director Greg Seibert said he did not want to censor Bailey, but the copyright violations left the university with no choice.

"We don't want to be judges of what is appropriate," he said.

Neumann did deem the site "inappropriate," though, because of a misuse of university resources.

"I have a serious problem with what it is making of the Kent name," Neumann said.

Neumann said he is not determining whether or not the sexual images are appropriate or offensive, but it should not have been part of Kent State's Web site.

Baker said the material may be appropriate outside the educational spectrum but should not be affiliated with Kent State.

"When using public property, the rules are much stricter," he said.

Don Tolliver, vice president of information services, said this was a first-time occurrence for the university.

Tolliver said a university Web publishing policy has already been drafted and is on its way to Faculty Senate, which would prevent instances like this from occurring.

Even with this new policy on its way, Tolliver said he does not want the administration to stifle the wealth of free information the Internet provides.

"As a policy we do not review Web sites," he said. "We are not the Web police."

E-mail: alombard@kent.edu, jcarrach@kent.edu