How Far Do Your Policies Go?
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
Justin Schaffer, a sophomore at the University of Dayton, has-or had-a Facebook profile. (Our link is a cached version.) On it, one could see that he enjoys the children’s book Everybody Poops, he is a former member of “Pole Dancers for Jesus,” and has made and received from friends a number of digital “bumper stickers,” some of which exhibit shocking and offensive ideas.
So far, it all sounds pretty… sophomoric, right? Well, there are two complications.
Complication #1: Justin ’s father is Bob Schaffer, a Republican former member of Congress who is now running a contentious campaign for the Senate. An anonymous tipster (or tattletale, depending on your POV) sent a Democratic blogger a link to a mirrored version of Justin’s profile (the one you see above), including the bumper stickers. One compares Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden; another shows images of pyramids with the phrase “Slavery gets s**t done.”
Complication #2: The University of Dayton is a private, Catholic institution, and has “started a dialogue” with Justin concerning the elements of his Facebook page that violate the “standards of the UD community.”
Justin has apologized; his Facebook page can no longer be viewed.
Unarguably, institutions have a legitimate interest in being aware of what their students are portraying about themselves and their school. But where does free speech — even the offensive, juvenile sort — fit? When should the institution step in? Definitely, it’s a tricky balance. Also, how much of this conflict is the result of differing ideas of “humor” between generations? Discuss.