"We have to tell students how to use websites safely," says Lepley. "We can't assume that because [people are] of age to be in college they are sophisticated about the ways of the world." Students will get two important reminders: they have choices about filling in online profiles that ask for personal information, and this information can live in cyberspace forever. Even giving too much detail about comings and goings with friends can lead to trouble.
As for Taylor Behl, Lepley realizes the case exposes a generation gap. Students read Behl's "jailbait" moniker or the postings on groups like "girls like it hard" on other online communities and say the participants are just joking. The average student isn't taking these online personas seriously. But older cyberstakers might be, responds Lepley, which is why students have to post with a broader audience in mind.
A Wider Safety Net
VCU joins a growing number of other IHEs in addressing this emerging area of campus safety. Brandeis University (Mass.) has created a presentation that's now being shared by other colleges and universities. Among the advice for students: Post only things you would want your grandmother to see and limit sharing to what can already be found in the public domain.
Administrators at California State University, Chico recently participated in an audio conference about the need to teach students about online safety when blogging. College students check blogs the way other business people check e-mail. At least 65 percent of all students are estimated to have profiles on MySpace, Facebook, or any number of other blog sites. Unfortunately, many students believe there is a degree of anonymity to posting.
"We are reminding students that what they are posting could show up with a future employer," says Lorraine Smith, associate director of Academic Advising at Cal State, Chico. To add another layer of safety, administrators there have created a closed community for its freshmen and their parents. Its "Destinations" community is restricted, operating off UPeers, a technology supplied by GoalQuest, an online enrollment and retention company. Students can still participate in Facebook and other blog sites; the Destinations site just gives them another option.
As for the case of Taylor Behl, Fawley remained a suspect at press time, but had not been accused of murder. One newspaper report said he had admitted to having consensual sex with Behl in the early morning hours of September 6 and that a rough sex act had accidentally killed her. Other details are unfolding and the case is expected to go before a grand jury in early 2006.
Facebook has become a campus phenomenon. In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, a then undergraduate at HarvardUniversity, opened his online community, which features student blogs and profiles, as an experiment at the Cambridge, Mass., campus. It's now a universal website with 11 million users at 2,000 colleges and universities. Any student, or adult, with a college or university e-mail address can become a member. MySpace.com, meanwhile, is open to anyone. The community is reported to have 40 million members and is growing.
Student participation in these online social communities is creating new administrative nightmares. Students are posting information about illegal activities or actions that go against campus policies.
Authorities expelled for one year a student at Fisher College in Boston for an ongoing negative diatribe about a campus police officer. Students at the University of California, Santa Barbara have already been warned that they will be disciplined if they post pictures or comments about engaging in illegal activity, such as drinking in the dorms or taking drugs on campus.
This fall the University of New Mexico banned access to Facebook on its campus servers. Officials may reverse the ban if they are assured that the site can provide adequate security, they say.
Facebook does have a customer-service section that addresses basic security concerns. A statement acknowledges that some users post inappropriate or harassing comments. Instructions outline how to report those who post offensive comments and how to unlink a profile to an unwanted picture. The statement promises that Facebook will review complaints about objectionable language and profile postings.
But, as officials at many institutions are realizing today, the best route to protecting students is a proactive one.
