The website of a McGill University computer professor has been shut down after he posted nude pictures of McGill students from the current issue of Playboy.

The photos accompany a story that ranks the Montreal institution as the tenth best party school in North America.

Computer professor Luc Devroye posted the photos in a section of his website dedicated to university news.

Content on his McGill site is unavailable save for a comment from Devroye that denounces the decision.

Under the headline "A sad day," Devroye says that "on April 24, 2006, censorship and political correctness won against academic freedom."

He goes on to apologize to the students, researchers and readers who are unable to access his site

"To the students who are counting on my course notes: sorry. To the researchers who are trying to download my work: sorry. To the conference participants of AofA 2006: sorry," he writes, referring to what is believed to be Analysis of Algorithms 2006.

"To the readers of my daily social commentary: sorry. To the mathematical community: sorry. To the funding agencies of Canada who generously supported my work: sorry. We may be up again one day after purgatory," he said.

The dean of sciences, Martin Grant, told La Presse that it was not a question of censorship, but rather of lack of judgment on the part of a staff member.

"I publish commentaries about what happens at McGill, in conferences, in workshops. I have fun. It's an outlet for me," Devroye wrote in another explanatory note published on the Carleton University website, which is playing temporary host to his web page, minus the controversial photos.

McGill was the only Canadian university to make Playboy's list.

Playboy decides the ranking by sending volunteer interns to different universities to grade the campus on such criteria as male-to-female ratio, the party scene, and how close it's situated to a big city.

According to Playboy, McGill scored big because of its 3-2 woman-to-man ratio and its alluring influence of the francophone Canadians who are "famously open about sex."

In February, McGill may have solidified its Playboy position after lewd photos from a campus party were splashed across four pages of Le Journal de Montreal.

Last October, the university cancelled the last two games of the McGill Redmen football season after an 18-year-old team rookie alleged he was sexually assaulted with a broomstick during a hazing ritual at "Rookie Night" in August.