 "Photo: photo from: CollegeHumor.com")
Since Facebook exploded onto the scene a few years ago and sites like MySpace and LiveJournal have come into common use, college students have found themselves increasingly interconnected with their peers and the outside world.
At UTD, campus officials agree that the Internet can be a positive medium - speeding up the timeliness of communication and broadening marketing and promotional possibilities.
However, websites such as Facebook and MySpace can also be a liability in all arenas. Some departments and organizations at UTD have been educating students on proper usage of the Internet, while others have developed or are developing policies that will regulate how students use social networking sites.
A scroll through Facebook profiles shows the full names of students, their majors, place of employment, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, instant messaging screen names, links to personal blogs and Waterview Park Apartment addresses.
Dean of Students Donna Rogers is a member of the Facebook community and has an active account. She said she has been referred to inappropriate Facebook pictures previously, though she does not monitor the site on a regular basis.
She has called students on occasion to suggest they reconsider the posting of photos which were risque, though not in violation of UTD disciplinary rules. However, if she were to need evidence for a case of criminal activity such as underage drinking, Facebook would fall under the realm of permissible evidence, she said.
Rogers said UTD has educated freshmen at orientations on proper usage of social networking sites. Certain behavior online could also fall under violation of the disciplinary code, which bans unbecoming conduct such as pranks and public nudity.
Lynn Rossi Scott, an attorney with the Dallas law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, has visited the campus twice to educate students on the legal implications of what they should post on the Internet.
"You cannot necessarily take (inappropriate pictures) down, and you leave yourself open for police, for campus administration, for professors, for your mom and potential employers to get that information," Scott said. "My advice to college students is: 'Don't put anything on the internet that contradicts who you want to be someday.'"
A scroll through public Facebook pictures shows a variety of snapshots of students' lives, from the innocent to the risqué. Alongside sunny vacation photos are pictures of students drinking, smoking, wearing skimpy costumes at Halloween and theme parties and smooching significant others.
Some online profiles list personal information, such as sexual orientation, age, home addresses, phone numbers, political leanings and diatribes on personal problems or issues.
"I don't think it's in the consciousness of college students yet that this isn't a diary. This isn't just me talking to my friends," Scott said.
Hello, Facebook. Goodbye, Job?
One trend that has been building in recent years is the growing use of the Internet by recruiters searching for background on an applicant.
A careerbuilder.com survey published Oct. 26, 2006, reported that 26 percent of hiring managers use search engines to check on potential hirees. Half of the manager respondents said they dismissed job candidates based on what they found using a search engine. Sixty-three percent crossed a candidate off their lists because of what he or she had put on a social networking site.
Eliminations came after managers learned via the Web that candidates had lied about their qualifications, posted inappropriate pictures, bad-mouthed previous companies or employees, showed evidence of criminal behavior or discussed drinking or drug use, among other reasons.
"Recruiters want to visit people online," said Michael Doty, director of career services at the Career Center. "That's not necessarily a good thing because of what students are putting out there."
While Career Center staffers will patrol their own listings to take down, say, an employer who is requesting female-only applicants, sites like Facebook and MySpace give employers ways to discriminate through photos and profile information such as gender, age, race and sexuality.
"That's what students don't understand, it's public domain - anyone can see it," Doty said.
Scott said she has represented educational entities who had fired employees after discovering inappropriate materials posted online.
"When you put stuff out there ... you set yourself up for an adverse employment action," Scott said.
Consider the following:
• At Penn State, a columnist for the Daily Collegian was fired after students protested comments he made on a Facebook group opposed to a campus cancer fundraiser, according to U.S. News & World Report.
• A mentor at a dormitory at Adelphi University also was fired after a Facebook picture showed him with a beer in hand at the residence hall, which is against the rules, according to The Delphian.
• In July, social networking site Ziggs fired its intern after discovering he had written online about "screwing around on IM" and "talking to (his) friends and getting paid for it," according to C.M. Russell at www.secretsofthejobhunt.blogspot.com
• In January, two employees were fired from a Canadian company, Farm Boys, after posting on Facebook, according to the Ottawa Sun. One of them said he had only been joking in a post that was taken literally by his managers to be an admission of stealing from the company.
Student Groups' Image
Sometimes photos created by a few can cast a negative shadow on an entire organization. On the popular national humor website, www.collegehumor.com, The Mercury found three photos that included nude or partially nude women with UTD Greek insignias written on their bodies.
