[Air-l] University reprimands students for Facebook comments

[Kevin Guidry]

On 5/24/07, 'Gail Taylor <gdtaylor at uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
> I'm not familiar with Keele University and not certain what cultural practices are guiding
> the decision-making processes of the administrators who are choosing this course of
> action. Can anyone share information about this University that might shed light on the
> administrative culture?

   I'm familiar with the reactions of many American institutions but I
dare not extend my observations and speculation to a British
institution.  It seems that here in America, administrators are coming
around from the initial "It's evil and should be forbidden!" reaction
that many seemed to exhibit (most Facebook-related presentation I
attended at this year's ACPA/NASPA Joint Meeting focused largely on
positive and constructive uses of the tool).  However, there does
appear to be a lingering split between the (a) scholars and younger
staff who seem to have a better understanding of the tools and how and
why students use them and (b) older practitioners who tend to mainly
deal with the negative repercussions of students using or misusing the
tools.  I don't think it surprising that those whose jobs focus mainly
on disciplinary and administrative issues tend to see more negative
uses of new tools than positive.
   From a scholarly perspective, it is really exciting to see some of
the student development scholars and student affairs practitioners
beginning to conduct their own research into Facebook and similar
tools.  They bring a unique and rich understanding of both traditional
college students and the (social, legal, and political) culture of
higher education to this issue.


Kevin