I do vent on Facebook about work...but nothing I wouldn't say in public at school. For example, a recent post I made about a student who had earned a D being given a second chance to turn in missing work. Said student became incensed when I refused to accept only part of what I required of him in order to change the grade, and threatened to report me to the College President - for what, I still don't understand, but anyway, since he alleged that I violated his rights (didn't explain which) I posted that he had violated my right not to be driven crazy by students and then quipped that that right did not exist either.
The student was not a "Facebook Friend" and only former students and other facutly would have seen it. Other than that, it is my personal space and I talk about my personal life away from school. If people want to be my Facebook friend, they will read about my personal life. I would agree that, given that we just had a professor generated school shooting, joking about killing students seems to be very poor judgment indeed. I am not sure I have 100% great judgment always but I feel that my understanding of my right to use that space as I see fit is appropriate. I would not joke about killing students - having been on campuses where students have died (accidently) I wouldn't be able to laugh or joke about that. Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach California -----Original Message----- From: Christopher D. Green <[email protected]> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Mar 1, 2010 1:57 pm Subject: Re: [tips] Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting A theory: A student saw the postings, told his/her parents, who complained to the school, citing the recent Alabama shootings, which felt it had to "do something" to show that it was taking the matter as seriously as the parent demanded. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== ============= Helweg-Larsen, Marie wrote: Yes it is surprising that people don't have common sense (my daughter's high school FB friends repeatedly post detailed pictures on FB of their underage drinking and drug use). But is suspension for the professor (or any employee) really necessary! What about just a normal "chat" by the dean (or whomever) reminding the professor about how public facebook is. Gesh - imagine if people had to be suspended every time they didn't make a good choice or made a minor error. Marie **************************************************** arie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. epartment Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology aufman 168, Dickinson College arlisle, PA 17013, office (717) 245-1562, fax (717) 245-1971 ffice hours: Mon & Wed 2-3:30 ttp://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html *************************************************** ----Original Message----- rom: Penley, Julie [mailto:[email protected]] ent: Monday, March 01, 2010 3:56 PM o: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) ubject: RE: [tips] Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting It's like that old commercial...they tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on and so on. I'm not a FB expert but, while Gadsden's posts wouldn't be seen by non-friends, I believe comments to her posts would be visible to the poster's friends. Right? Depending on where she's doing her FB'ing, universities have the legal authority to monitor employee's computer use. Although a lack of common sense isn't a crime, this case is a good example of why people should think twice about what they post on social networking sites. It's hard to convey humor (or sarcasm or whatever she was going for) in writing. Julie Julie A. Penley, Ph.D. ssociate Professor of Psychology pecial Assistant to the Dean l Paso Community College O Box 20500 l Paso, TX 79998-0500 ffice phone: (915) 831-3210 epartment fax: (915) 831-2324 mail: [email protected] ebpage: http://www.epcc.edu/facultypages/jpenley ----Original Message----- rom: Michael Smith [mailto:[email protected]] ent: Monday, March 01, 2010 1:44 PM o: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) ubject: Re: [tips] Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting I suppose one of her 'friends' must have supplied the postings to the elevant people otherwise how would they have it if it was only isible to her friends? (admitting I don't really know much about acebook). Is freedom of speech still alive? --Mike On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Pollak, Edward <[email protected]> wrote: Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting East Stroudsburg University has suspended Gloria Gadsden, a sociology rofessor, for joking comments she posted on her Facebook page that pparently were taken seriously, The Pocono Record reported. One comment was bout wanting to hire a hit man. Another said "had a good day today, DIDN'T ant to kill even one student :-). Now Friday was a different story." adsden said that in the meeting where she was told of the suspension, a ean referenced last month's murders at the University of Alabama in untsville. Gadsden said that the humor was clear to her Facebook friends nd she doesn't know why the university was monitoring her account. niversity officials said that they did not routinely monitor Facebook ccounts and that they couldn't discuss details of Gadsden's case. See ttp://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100226/NEWS/2260344 Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Department of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, & bluegrass fiddler...... in pproximate order of importance. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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