From The Brandon Show. Your weekly home for college survival
Two important issues every college student faces are their future and their social life; the answer to every five year old’s inquiry of, “what am I going to be when I grow up?” and every college student’s need for a social life. Images from popular culture such as Animal House have led to the misconception that college is a marathon party with only sleep coming between random hookups, hangovers, and the occasional paper or test. Generation Y’s college students have taken to online websites such as Facebook to reach out to people they may never meet in person to make new friends. However, serious challenges may be faced by a college student’s use of Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes founded Facebook while attending Harvard. The website was successful within the Harvard community and quickly spread to other Ivy League institutions. Zuckerberg and Moskovitz left college to manage Facebook as a full time job. As of November 2004 Facebook has reached over one million users. During 2005 Facebook expanded to 835 colleges throughout the country extending its reach to community colleges and educational institutions in other countries. You can now find facebook at all colleges in the nation reaching over 2,200. While many students have adopted Facebook into their day-to-day routines, educational institutions have begun to react to the site’s growing popularity. In October of 2005 a student at Fisher College in Boston, Massachusetts was expelled for negative comments posted about a University Police Officer. Penn State University Police utilized Facebook to find students who disrupted a game against Ohio State. Students at Northern Kentucky University were penalized for posting photos of a drinking party on their Facebook page. Kansas State University made use of Facebook to look into possible breaches in the campus’s honor code when students made use of Facebook to trade information without the Professor’s knowledge. The University of New Mexico blocked access to Facebook from on campus facilities due to violations of the school’s acceptable use policy. Most concerning to the school was the usage of a University of New Mexico email address to use Facebook for non-school purposes. According to a report in Syracuse University’s Daily Orange, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry's Undergraduate Student Association sent out an email warning the student body of campus policy violations on Facebook. Chip Morris, Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards at SUNY Potsdam, has already handled several cases involving Facebook here.
Chris Hughes, spokesman for Facebook, stated “In general, faculty and administrators are able to consider Facebook a forum of expression for their students, and they are legally able to regulate their behavior or use that information to make decisions. It's certainly not what we designed Facebook to be used for, but there's not much we can do about it.” Students weighed in about administrator’s rights to take action against students. “F*ck No”, Josh Manley, a math major at SUNY Potsdam said. Potsdam student Christine Larsen stated, “No because Facebook is not strictly SUNY Potsdam. It is a place where college students can express themselves without persecution or fear of being reprimanded.” Student Olivia McIlravy-Ackert agrees, “I started the group on Facebook because a friend of mine was told to take down a group they had created. I wanted students to know that it was still ok to speak their minds on Facebook and that they don't have to give up their freedom of speech. Facebook is a place for students to connect to one another, and just be themselves. Of course, students should pick and choose how much they want to share and put on Facebook. But, they shouldn't feel restricted or pressured by faculty and staff members to not say. One of the questions Chip Morris asks when researching material on Facebook is whether or not the material identifies demeans or ridicules an identifiable member of the community. Campus administrators do not peruse Facebook looking to identify and charge students for violations. But this is also not to rule out creation of an account by the administrators and coming across pictures or other evidence that may do so. Much in the vain of the FCC, campus administrators may not act unless a complaint is brought to them. And much like in cases dealing with the FCC, context is key. A Facebook group such as “I hate Hippies” is acceptable. A Facebook group named “I hate Kevin Pettograsso because he’s a dirty whore” is not acceptable. Photos in your profile or group showing you violating campus policy, regardless of whether or not you posted the photographs may also lead to charges being brought against you. Students should also look out for language that may constitute harassment such as consistent verbal abuse towards another student in your profile. The use of a campus email address to access Facebook, a concern of the University of New Mexico and other institutions, also makes you responsible for any violations committed of the acceptable use policy. Pictures of underage drinking and drug usage also constitute violations of other campus policies as well as state and federal law.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
What's the difference between facebook and yahoo, or AIM?
Further, are college students so stupid as to not realize that everything is public in this new,hyper-real world? Privacy is so 20th-century:)
2 - -E
Facebook isn't an instant messaging service. It is much more like a bbs where the conversation can be somewhat real time, but through "private messages." You create a profile with as much or as little info about yourself as you like (some simply put their city of residence, others put their address and phone number). It is like Friendster or Myspace, only a bit more exclusive in that it is for students or alumni and not just anyone.
3 - anonymous
This is a very informative artical. I think it should be shown to everyone of FB. I have countless friends with wasted pictures at parties and whatnot...