Instead of competing in the women’s ultimate Frisbee
tournament she organized last month,
Wells and her teammates found themselves
cheering from the sidelines. Slammed with five conduct violations
stemming from pictures posted on a member’s Facebook profile, the team joins a
growing list of students facing disciplinary action for personal information
listed on the popular social networking Web site. After a Nov. 16 team ceremony
in which the players gave new members their official nicknames — a longstanding
club tradition — they hosted a party to celebrate the start of a successful
season. Before long, one team member took out her camera and began snapping
pictures, later uploading them to a Facebook album titled “Psycho Initiation.”
The next morning, however, the girls woke up to more than
just hangovers — an anonymous person had reported the Facebook album to UCSD
Sports Clubs Program administrators, and teammembers were told they would have
to forfeit the tournament pending an investigation into the charges.
Ultimately, the team was charged with five violations,
including alcohol consumption at a sports club event and “rookie initiation” —
a claim of hazing based in part on the title of the Facebook album. After an
unsuccessful appeal to the office’s administration, the team was suspended from
competing for the rest of the year.
“No one was pressured to drink,” Wells said. “There was no
hazing. It sucks that a girl can want to put up pictures of her friends at a
social event, and it ruins our season.”
The use of Facebook pictures as evidence of student
misconduct is relatively rare, and is usually only pursued if reported directly
to administrators, Director of Student Policies and Judicial Affairs Tony
Valladolid said.
“I’m not going to go out of my way to search for conduct
code violations on Facebook,” he said. “That’s the same approach that all
administrators responsible for student conduct take. If you bring it to our
attention, we use it. [Facebook evidence] is just that; it’s evidence.”
However, Valladolid said that like other photographic or
video evidence, any content posted on Facebook is barred from usage for
disciplinary purposes until it is authenticated.
“There are all kinds of evidentiary issues with a photo or a
video, for example,” he said. “How do you know a bong contains marijuana? How
do you know a red cup contains alcohol? If someone is taking pictures or having
their picture taken while violating the conduct code, it is subject to these
evidentiary issues.”
Eleanor Roosevelt College junior and Sixth College resident
adviser Justin Lowenthal agreed with Valladolid, saying that while he doesn’t
specifically look to enforce policy on Facebook, it does enhance his awareness
of potential problems.
“I don’t think [discipline based on Facebook] is fair,” he
said. “It’s a caution factor that I should look at and keep in mind, but if I
see it, I have not been told to do anything about it.”
A number of other groups in addition to residence life
monitor the site for incriminating activity as well, including a UCSD
Panhellenic Council panel that fines sorority members identified in
compromising situations.
“They’ve always kept a really close check on Facebook,” said
Revelle sophomore Maggie Milstein, president of Alpha Epsilon Phi. “We can’t
have red cups, or be dressed scandalously. I even got contacted for some
pictures I had up. It happens all the time.”
Another problem common to Facebook users is the hiring
process in the professional world, where employers and graduate schools tend to
check applicants’ Facebook profiles. Valladolid confirmed that the trend is a
ballooning obstacle for students who don’t closely monitor the content on their
pages.
“Employers are looking at Facebook, and so are people that
license,” he said. “I won’t go so far as to say the American Bar Association is
doing it, but they could.”
The prospect of being judged by the content of a Facebook
profile is very troubling, and provides extra incentive for users to be
careful, said Earl Warren College senior Hunter Knight.
“I think a really frightening thing about this is that you
might think there is nothing wrong with your profile, but any potential boss
might find something they don’t like, which as a result could cost you the job,
and you would never know the real reason why,” he said.
In response to growing concerns about these issues, UCSD’s
Express to Success Program commissioned a student-led workshop about how to
effectively navigate Facebook on Nov. 29. The seminar included tips on how to
avoid fraud, security breaches and situations that could result in disciplinary
action.
Though these lessons came too late for the Frisbee team,
Eleanor Roosevelt College senior and team captain Laura Wishingrad said that
her teammates have learned from their mistakes.
“We told our teams after that, ‘Be careful what you put on
Facebook,’” she said. “I’d be overly cautious.”
Valladolid echoed Wishingrad’s sentiment, saying that while
the advantages of the site are numerous, so are its pitfalls.
“I think Facebook is a wonderful medium, and [this]
generation will use it to great advantage,” he said. “But, they need to be
very, very attuned to adverse consequences if they put information on there
that paints them in a bad light.”
