Without policy, Internet privacy in question
Joel Pavelski
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News
Nothing you post online is private. Ask the Deans.
When freshman Ben Crane was called into Dean of Men Aaron Petersen's office, he didn't expect the conversation to be about Facebook.
Crane had been sick for almost two weeks, and the dean was encouraging him to focus on his school work and avoid socializing long enough to recuperate.
Then Peterson pulled out a manila folder and began reading out Crane's recent Facebook status updates from a printed paper inside.
"It bothered me that someone was watching my Facebook profile and taking notes," he said.
Crane is a member of a new generation of students who are discovering that nothing you put online, especially on Facebook, is completely private.
Dean of Women Diane Philipp said that she has had to deal with online material posted by students twice in the past.
Both times it involved underage drinking in campus buildings, and both times someone slipped printed copies of the online information under her door anonymously.
"In those situations, it helped a student versus hurting them," she said.
The deans both said that neither of them have a Facebook account.
"It's a matter of trust," Philipp said. "If something is brought to our attention, it's a tough situation that a student isn't sure how to handle on their own."
She admitted that going on Facebook was tempting, but said she wanted to respect students' privacy.
"Kids don't usually misuse that information. We don't have tattle-tales. Anything that's come to us has been an actual issue," she said.
Petersen said that he's not afraid to use Facebook, e-mail or text messages that may be brought to him as evidence of a problem, but that a relationship of trust with students is extremely important. Balancing the temptation to actively pursue information on students with his job description, to keep them safe and help them pursue good without interfering with their self-government, would be too difficult on Facebook, he said.
When freshman Ben Crane was called into Dean of Men Aaron Petersen's office, he didn't expect the conversation to be about Facebook.
Crane had been sick for almost two weeks, and the dean was encouraging him to focus on his school work and avoid socializing long enough to recuperate.
Then Peterson pulled out a manila folder and began reading out Crane's recent Facebook status updates from a printed paper inside.
"It bothered me that someone was watching my Facebook profile and taking notes," he said.
Crane is a member of a new generation of students who are discovering that nothing you put online, especially on Facebook, is completely private.
Dean of Women Diane Philipp said that she has had to deal with online material posted by students twice in the past.
Both times it involved underage drinking in campus buildings, and both times someone slipped printed copies of the online information under her door anonymously.
"In those situations, it helped a student versus hurting them," she said.
The deans both said that neither of them have a Facebook account.
"It's a matter of trust," Philipp said. "If something is brought to our attention, it's a tough situation that a student isn't sure how to handle on their own."
She admitted that going on Facebook was tempting, but said she wanted to respect students' privacy.
"Kids don't usually misuse that information. We don't have tattle-tales. Anything that's come to us has been an actual issue," she said.
Petersen said that he's not afraid to use Facebook, e-mail or text messages that may be brought to him as evidence of a problem, but that a relationship of trust with students is extremely important. Balancing the temptation to actively pursue information on students with his job description, to keep them safe and help them pursue good without interfering with their self-government, would be too difficult on Facebook, he said.
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