The Facebook calls itself "an online directory that connects people through social networks at schools." Many students consider it a procrastination tool.
But if a recent trend at numerous universities around the country continues, the Facebook may also become a watchdog tool. Students at schools across the country have recently been charged with everything from alcohol related infractions to making threatening comments to a campus police officer - all from photos or information posted on the Facebook.
"Students need to be careful about what they post online, in instant messages, and in phone voice mails," said Director of Residential Life Henry Humphreys.
Res Life has made no searches of the Facebook or other online databases with the intent of checking up on students, according to Humphreys, and he said he has never looked at the Facebook at all.
If information or photographs found online affect the well-being of students or show a breaking of University policy and are brought to the attention of Res Life it is the department's responsibility to act upon it.
Humphreys mentioned that several such cases have arisen, involving students leaving messages implying a possible intent to harm themselves, as well as making inflammatory and threatening remarks toward a person or group of people.
In April, a parent of a Boston College student found pictures from her daughter's online photo gallery that showed students in a Keyes South room with beer cans in the background. The parent informed Res Life of the photos and the students were forced to meet with their resident director.
"Basically in the shots they were able to see everyone who was in the room and the beer cans," said Dennis Bichsel, CSOM '08, one of the students involved. "We never got formal documentation [of the incident] and they basically told us that if we did anything for the rest of the year, period, we could get kicked out of our housing placement.
