Constitution Day was developed to create awareness in students of their First Amendment rights.
Ball State University held a panel of media professionals to discuss these freedom of speech issues in the Internet age Monday night in the Art and Journalism Building.
The Journalism Institute for Digital Education, Activities and Scholarship sponsored the panel of four speakers. With social-network Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace holding an increasingly prominent position in high school and college students' lives, the issues that arise with their usage are becoming more important, Director of J-IDEAS, Warren Watson said. MySpace is the #1 visited Web site in the United States, he said.
Students across the nation have been disciplined for information or comments put on Facebook, leading to issues of privacy and freedom of speech, Shawn Healy, resident scholar at McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, said.
Some schools have attempted to censor or limit student involvement on Facebook, Healy said. At Kent State University, athletes can lose their scholarships if they violate a school policy on Facebook, he said. At Louisiana State University, negative comments posted on the Internet caused swimmers to be kicked off the team. At Ball State, last March athletes who had pictures of inappropriate content were told to clean up their profiles or they might lose Facebook privileges.
Similar issues come up in the workplace, where employers look at pictures and stories on Facebook, Healy said.
"As a college student, the thing you probably need to be most concerned about, I'm sure you've heard this again and again, but employers are looking at this, potential employers. So, what you put on your Facebook site could be part of the research they do in the hiring process," Healy said.
Students responded strongly when they realized just how public Facebook was after the recent addition of a news-feed feature, Melinda Messineo, assistant professor of sociology at Ball State, said. Students had a false sense of security due to the impersonal nature of the Internet, she said.
"These things were viewed to be more private than they actually were, really, I think shocked people and surprised them in terms of what will other people think," Messineo said. "I've heard of them [students] being embarrassed by some of the information on there."
Watson said Facebook is the modern-day diary.
Dave Studinski, editor of the Ball State Daily News, said filters are not the answer, but rather increased student responsibility, as filters keep students on a leash and don't give them freedom.
The issue of safety versus freedom is one of the most important topics when talking about the Internet, Watson said.
Healy said that Congress is considering passing a law to reduce predators' ability to find students online.
"The angle used to take on the social networking sites, isn't so much a free speech angle, but Congress has started looking at some of the ways, some of the stories we hear, where predators are tracking down minors, and tragic things are happening," Healy said.
Public relations senior Kristin Sartor said it was interesting how Facebook has become so important, when it started out as what she saw as a simple form of entertainment.
Another important issue raised by the panel was the fact that students need to be educated about the First Amendment. The most important idea for students is they shouldn't take their rights for granted, Messineo said. Healy agreed that the overarching theme of the discussion was to be aware of one's rights, and the issue with Facebook and the Internet is simply the modern day form of that theme.
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