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Students can be charged with violations of the university Code of Conduct for their actions on Web sites such as facebook.com, according to the Judicial Affairs Office.
Kathryn Goldman, director of Judicial Affairs, stated in an e-mail message that students can be charged for using any computer to commit a crime that impacts the university.
Although there have only been two incidents involving Facebook to date, Goldman said violations of the academic honesty, responsible computing, sexual harrassment and disruptive conduct codes have been applied for computer violations.
Students under 21 could be charged with a violation of the university's alcohol policy if they are holding a beer in a picture on the Internet, she said. Students can also be charged for anything they say which may cause a disruption for other students.
"One may have the right to say what they want but they do not have the right to be disruptive to others," she said. "These ideas must be carefully balanced in our community."
Kathleen Kerr, director of Residence Life, said the department has no policy in place for how Resident Assistants should react to a student's actions on Web sites such as Facebook.
RAs have an obligation to respond if they notice any actions on the Internet that would raise concerns about a resident, she said.
"If they see things on Facebook that raise concerns and they have questions about it, and they want to have a conversation with the student, we ask them to do that," she said.
A policy may be developed for these sites in the near future, she said.
"We will be spending the next couple of months looking at this issue and probably will be developing a policy for next year, but right now one doesn't exist," Kerr said. "It's just an expectation that we care about our students, so if we see something that raises concerns we react to it."
A university junior who wished to remain anonymous said he was charged for his conduct on a Web site unrelated to the university.
"It's ludicrous that the university can charge a person with violation of multiple parts of the Code of Conduct based on what they write on an Internet site," he said.
The student said no one is forced to read anything on the Internet and the university may be overstepping its boundaries by charging students.
"It's like the thought police are out to get kids," he said. "It's mind-blowing that a student has to constantly worry that something they say or write can be held against them."
Senior Tya Pope, a member of the university Civil Liberties Union, stated in an e-mail message that some people have a false sense of security about their right to freedom of speech.
"People have to understand that freedom of speech only goes so far and once someone starts intruding on the rights of others, that right stops," she said.
Pope said students need boundaries sometimes, and students should not have to live in fear because of something written by another student on a Web site.
"People need to realize that this isn't a place where you can say and do whatever you want without repercussions," she said. "We are all entitled to our opinions and feelings about things, but there is an appropriate time and place to express them."
Goldman said although students can be charged for their actions online, there are no cases of faculty policing the Internet.
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