Any rational person wouldn't walk around wearing a sandwich board broadcasting their full name, address, phone number, e-mail address and screen name. In fact, many people go to great lengths to conceal personal information and protect their privacy.
But with the increasing popularity of Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, all this information -- along with incriminating photographs and comments from friends -- can be quickly and easily accessed by other students, campus police, administrators and even future employers.
Created in February 2004, Facebook is available to college students across the country as a means to connect with fellow students over the Web. And with a whopping 12.4 million registered users -- 17,092 at UB alone, according to Chris Hughes, the site's official spokesperson -- Facebook's popularity has been soaring, and authorities have taken notice.
Campus officials at schools such as Syracuse University and George Washington University have used the networking Web site to track down underage drinking and bust parties.
"We don't need Facebook to bust parties," said John Grela, UB director of Public Safety. "We still rely heavily on the postings and fliers that go up, but don't forget that the Buffalo Police know where the parties are going to be. Kids try to code the fliers or their advertising on Facebook, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out where the parties are. Just drive up and down the streets in the Heights and you're bound to find a party that's gotten out of hand."
Though UB's officials don't utilize the site in their law enforcement efforts, students at other colleges have been disciplined for postings.
At North Carolina State University, 15 students were charged by university officials for underage drinking because of pictures found on their Facebook profiles.
In a different, and equally severe, case at Fisher University in Boston, the president of the student government was recently expelled based on comments that he made on Facebook regarding a police officer. According to The Boston Globe, Facebook said the incident at Fisher is the first time a student has been expelled because of comments made on Facebook.
No UB students have been disciplined for photographs or information they may have posted on the Web site, but that's not to say the potential for disciplinary action doesn't exist.
"It's sort of a whole new world and I know that many schools are struggling with how you respond to things that are brought to your attention on Facebook," said Elizabeth Lidano, director of Judicial Affairs. "We haven't had much of that here at this point, but I know that other schools have had students bring information to the administration based on Facebook. I think that with something like Facebook, we would have to look at it case-by-case and see if there's a Code of Conduct violation."
There are currently no rules in the Student Code of Conduct dealing with sites like Facebook and Web site content, but there is a computer abuse clause as well as a harassment clause, both of which students should take into consideration when utilizing certain Web sites.
"In cases where there is harassment via a computer or the Internet, it's usually just a matter of talking to the person and explaining that their behavior is out of line," Lidano said. "If it did become a larger discipline issue, it would go through campus discipline offices, and some cases can be a larger issue."
UB's Judicial Affairs department, along with those at other SUNY schools, are currently discussing ways to handle issues such as pictures of illegal activities or harassment deriving from Facebook.
"I meet regularly with judicial directors from other SUNY's and have been discussing how to handle this issue, like postings that are obvious violations, stuff of that nature," Lidano said. "At this point, none of us are really going on Facebook and looking for those things, but there are a variety of ways it could come to our attention, so we might have to develop a policy as far as dealing with it."
In the meantime, Lidano said that students publicizing their weekend activities still run the risk of making that information available to potential employers.
"I have heard that employers will check to see what kind of stuff they can dig up, whether it's through Facebook or simply 'Googling' the applicant's name," she said. "If a person is representing themselves in a way that the employee wouldn't want his company represented, they will take that into consideration, and this can do with anything, from the outgoing message you leave on your cell phone to the name you have in your e-mail address."
Grela agreed and said he had heard of similar ramifications.
"Prospective employers look at Facebook. They'll see if you were on Facebook and see what your profile is like, and you might not get the job you want because of something you posted as a freshman," Grela said.
The best way around these kind of ramifications is to just avoid posting certain information altogether.
"It's all about discretion. People just don't realize how accessible all of this information really is," said Clark Dever, who, according to his Facebook profile, is a senior information systems management major who enjoys philosophy and death metal and never sleeps "because sleep is the cousin of death." "I think a lot of it is that people just don't think about the ramifications of what they post online."
Devan DeCicco, a senior English major who "would like to someday be the captain of a clipper ship" and doesn't throw out shoes, has already felt an employer's pressure to maintain a professional appearance in his MySpace profile, part of a Web site very similar to Facebook that is open to anyone wishing to join.
"I have a job working in child care, and while MySpace won't allow anyone under 16 to maintain a profile, they have no way of verifying age," DeCicco said. "So a lot of the older kids I work with, usually between the ages of 12 and 15, find out I have a MySpace page and add me to their friends list. So if I have pictures on my profile of me doing something inappropriate, the kids, and potentially their parents, could see that."
And while it's certainly legal for DeCicco, who is of age and a supervisor at his summer camp job, to post pictures of himself drinking, those images don't reflect well on his employer.
"I had to talk to one of my employees about it, because his MySpace picture was his mouth with smoke coming out of it," he said. "And while I won't condemn him for what he does outside of camp, and neither would my supervisor, he can't make it so public because it hurts the reputation of our 'business,' if you will. No one wants to send their kid to a camp if they find out the counselor is smoking weed."
Lidano and Grela both stressed that while there is no official policy at UB regarding students' Facebook activities, students should keep these potential consequences in mind when they decide to post incriminating photographs, suggestive messages and even simple information like e-mail addresses or phone numbers.
"If it was my child, I would discourage it," Lidano said. "I know it's a whole social network that's hard to resist and I understand why a student would want to be involved, but I still am concerned."
"It's 'cool' and everything and something that's done nationally, but you're putting your personal information out there for everyone to see," Grela added. "And people make different value judgments based on that information. Or they can even go so far as to steal your identity or create a new identity out of some of the information you have posted."
