Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?

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Higher education law attorney Dana L. Fleming voices her controversial opinion in favor of institutionalized involvement in social network protection in her article “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” (Fleming). Posted in the New England Journal of Higher Education, winter of 2008 issue, Fleming poses the question of responsibility in monitoring students’ online social networking activities. With a growing population of students registering on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, she introduces the concern of safety by saying, “like lawmakers, college administrators have not yet determined how to handle the unique issues posed by the public display of their students’ indiscretions.” However, while Dana Fleming emphasizes the horror stories of social networking gone-bad, she neglects the many positive aspects of these websites and suggests school involvement in monitoring these sites when the role of monitoring should lie with parents or the adult user.

Fleming begins her argument by paralleling the transformative properties of the invention of the telephone years ago to social networks today (Fleming). But, Fleming states that “students’ online identities and friendships come at a price, as job recruiters, school administrators, law enforcement officers and sexual predators sign on and start searching” (Fleming). Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook are frequented favorites, especially by college students. These sites have become so popular that “friending” a person is now a dictionary verb. However, Fleming believes that students are not as cautious as they should be. In fact, “thirty percent of students report accepting ‘friend’ reques...

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...versities seem to be infringing on personal liberties awarded by the first amendment and excusing away this illegal behavior by calling it a “privacy” concern. While students should no doubt be aware of online privacy concerns social networking brings, it is not the role of colleges to monitor such things. Besides this, Fleming even admits “there is no practical way for colleges to monitor the content of these sites” (Fleming). This begs the question: Why try to control something one cannot control? Overall, though Fleming’s emotional appeals impress, her logic behind them are spotty and often irrelevant to the concern about privacy for adult college students.

Works Cited

Fleming, Dana L. “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” New England Journal of Higher Education.22.4 (2008): 27-29. Print.

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