facebook status: BUSTED

Some University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students recently made a new Facebook friend: the La Crosse Police Department. At least eight students at UW-L have had to pay fines and appear in court on underage drinking charges after La Crosse Police officers “friended” the students by using bogus profiles and aliases, and then used pictures posted on the site as evidence of the infractions.

As Luther follows other collegiate trends, could this sort of scenario be implemented by Luther and Decorah authorities?

“We don’t go into Facebook looking for this kind of thing, and we don’t issue tickets for anything except traffic [or] parking violations,” said Ann Highum, vice president and dean for Student Life. “We continue to advise students that anything they put on Facebook can be obtained by anyone now, including their parents, college faculty and staff, and potential future employers.”

Some students believe that Facebook-related discipline could have numerous ethical and technical issues.

“I’d question the motives behind a policy like this,” Brandon Reed (‘10) said. “Luther’s Resident Assistants are here to keep students safe and provide support. This policy seems like it would undermine both those objectives, punishing rather than protecting and alienating rather than unifying.”

For students under the age of 21 and on Facebook, the prospect of fake accounts and police decoys is disturbing.

“I don’t like that idea,” Anna Hageness (‘13) said. “Your page is private to the public unless you friend someone. A fake Facebook friend is deceptive.”

The problem doesn’t orginate solely with the police, however. If no pictures of underage drinking are posted, or no underage drinking occurs, the issue becomes moot.

“I personally don’t drink, so it wouldn’t affect me,” Rachel Binning (‘13) said. “I guess if it worked or solved a problem, it would be okay. It seems invasive.”

While Luther has not implemented any policy to date, there could be some scenarios where Facebook drinking discipline could happen.

“[If] someone forwards to a staff member a photo or photos of students who are involved in an obvious violation of any of our college policies, we would start by investigating it,” Highum said. “I think it is possible that an investigation could lead to disciplinary action according to our Student Code of Conduct.”

Although Luther doesn’t currently browse Facebook or other social networking sites, Director of Safety and Security Bob Harri didn’t rule out any possibilities for future investigative action.

“This is a rather complicated issue to address quickly and with any brevity,” Harri said. “The use of electronic networking sources for investigation of illegal activity is growing in both the private and public sector.”

Such use of Facebook has precedent. Since 2005, cases of citations against students caught on facebook violating alcohol policies have peppered college news. The issue surrounding the citations is still a topic of debate and discussion as social networking sites become an increasingly important medium of communication and information.

Many colleges have cited student safety and the public nature of Facebook as justification for such use, but students have generally felt it an invasion of their privacy.

Greg Lonning, director of fitness and wellness, was unable to comment on Luther’s position in the debate.

With such cases hitting colleges near Luther, some students may begin reconsidering to whom they give access on their social networking pages.

“I added people in the Luther network before school started, to get to know people,” Hageness said. “I guess I’ll stop doing that now.”