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Iowa State U. issues a 'Beware of Facebook' warning(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)AMES, Iowa, Jun 06, 2006 (Iowa State Daily, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --Imagine posting a comment on a Facebook group as a joke. The comment reads, "We could all donate a dollar and raise millions of dollars to hire an assassin to kill the president and replace him with a monkey." Now imagine the Secret Service showing up on your doorstep shortly after making this comment. This was the reality for a student at the University of Oklahoma. Saul Martinez left the message on a Facebook group entitled "Bush Sucks" and had no idea it would lead to meeting with Secret Service agents. This is just one of many examples of university students facing repercussions they never thought of when they were using the popular student network. So far there have not been instances of student suspensions or expulsions at Iowa State for online-related conduct. "We have not used it as the sole grounds for suspension or expulsion, but we do use it as supporting evidence," said Sharon McGuire, dean of students. McGuire explained Iowa State is not monitoring students, but students should be aware that anything they post online is considered public record and can be used as evidence. "We don't monitor -- I want to make that clear," McGuire said. "At the same time, we encourage students to use the service as it was intended -- as a networking service -- and they should not put a lot of personal information on their Facebook [profile]." However, postings and pictures uploaded online by students from other universities have been used as grounds for expulsion. Michael Guinn was dismissed from John Brown University after pictures he posted of himself dressed in drag were found by university officials. The university decided the pictures violated the Christian school's Community Covenant. The consequences of using Facebook bring into question the continued popularity of the site as more and more incidents between students and universities occur. Y2M College Publisher, which hosts the Daily's Web site, used to represent Facebook for advertising. "Social networks provide some of the edgier advertisers opportunities to interact with college students, who create content themselves," said Jill Higson, executive director of sales and marketing for Y2M. "These environments also create security and content issues for advertisers. Y2M no longer represents Facebook to new advertisers." Higson explained although networking Web sites such as Facebook have a "viral marketing" component, they can be attractive to advertisers. But with this "viral" component comes an attached uncontrollability regarding content. "There is no control of the content with personal sites and this can be a problem for established advertisers who care about a stable image," she said. From a university perspective, Facebook can be a valuable tool in determining what exactly happened in situations the university gets complaints about. "In situations where we need to find out what really happened, beyond what people are telling us, the Facebook can be a valuable tool," McGuire said. Thus far the expulsions based only on online behavior have come from private colleges. "Private schools can kick you out for essentially any reason they can come up with," said Adam Goldstein, legal fellow at the Student Press Law Center. "A public institution has a much harder time dismissing a student simply because they broke the school conduct code." Goldstein said he would not be surprised to see a public university attempt dismissal soon He said it has already happened at every other level, including private and public high schools and private colleges. "There is a very fine line between an institution telling you what you can and cannot publish and what you can and cannot think," he said. Facebook representatives declined to comment. |