Facebook: What should be the Campus Response?

Madison, Wis.— June 14 — More than 7 million students at more than 2,600 U.S. college campuses have profiles on Facebook. Not all of these students, of course, are using the technology wisely. So how should campuses respond?

In the live Web seminar “Facebook on Campus: Understanding the Issues,” participants seemed particularly interested in the implications Facebook and other social networking sites have for adjudicating alleged campus policy violations.

During the June 14 seminar, presenter Shawn McGuirk noted that viewing Facebook profiles can be useful in investigating alleged violations that come to the campus’ attention. But administrators going online to hunt down violations is another issue altogether, he said.

“If you decide to monitor [Facebook], and that becomes standard practice, you’re setting up a standard of care,” said McGuirk, director of judicial affairs, mediation and education at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. That is, if students learn that the campus is patrolling Facebook regularly, they can argue, if something goes wrong, that the campus “should have known” about the problem. In addition, “if word gets out that you’re snooping,” McGuirk said, “that doesn’t set up the best relationship with students.”

Resources might be better spent educating students about online safety and putting their best foot forward in what is ultimately a public forum, “no matter how ephemeral it seems,” McGuirk said. “It’s paramount that we, as administrators, help students make informed decisions about what they want to put out there,” he said.

If you missed Wednesday's live 90-minute seminar, you can order the full-length CD for $249 by visiting www.magnapubs.com/catalog/cds/598755-1.html.

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For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.