A closer look at how schools are reacting to Myspace and Facebook.
The best place to start when deciding what type of policy your school should enact regarding Myspace and Facebook is to first see what other schools are doing. Then decide what is best for your school. When looking at over this list. Keep in mind the difference between public and private, large and small, athletes or non-athletes.
Louisiana State** – Two members of their swim team joined a Facebook group that supported the firing of their swim coach. The students did not post threatening comments, just voiced objections to their coach. In a knee jerk reaction, the school kicked the athletes off the team. As athletes you are held to a higher code of conduct because you are considered an ambassador for the school.
Fisher College** – This is one of the most publicized cases regarding Facebook and higher education. It was the first time a student was expelled due to behavior on a Social Networking site. Cameron Walker was a sophomore and President of the Student Government Association. Cameron posted several negative comments on a Facebook group about the school’s police chief in an attempt to have him fired. The administration found out about his threatening comments and expelled Cameron. He admits it was stupid to post the comments, but says the administration should be able to separate humor from threats.
U. of New Mexico – often times schools will use things such as security and bandwidth as an excuse to block access to the site. It is kind of a way to side step around the legal issues. U. of New Mexico blocked access for a while due to “unsolicited e-mails”. Kent State blocked athletes for a while before reversing their decision.
Goucher College** – A first step is to post a warning and policy guideline on your website for social networking sites. Goucher College has a simple outline that can be modified for your school. Something to note is the policy comes from their student code of conduct handbook.
West Texas A&M / Mercyhurst – Both these schools not only post the information online as how to properly use SNS, they also created a handout that they distribute throughout the college. The approach will hit more students and be more effective.
Iowa State U. – Michael J. Bugeja from U. of Iowa wrote an article titled “Facing the Facebook.” This article is one of the most widely distributed articles in higher ed on Facebook.
North Carolina State U. – Educating students year round on proper Internet use seems to be the best policy a school can take. NC State is leading the charge with how best to do this. They hosted a live web cast panel discussion on all things Facebook. They then went on to post all the materials of the discussion on their website. Ideally a school should have these educational sessions three times a year.
Where do you see your school on the graph above?
Find more examples at USA Today.
