A PR Nightmare
I've given up on the antibiotic goo. It just made my eyes hurt and forces me to take a nap until it absorbed. I'm, frankly, not interested in setting my life aside because I have to wipe goo in my eyes. I'll just keep putting Patanol in my eyes, and hope that this is a side effect of the Accutane.
You know, I think it's sad that I make excuses like an older person saying, "Oh, you know, thank God WebAdvisor finally works...seeing as my eyes have reached their computer-reading limit."
And with that, a segue....
It's registration time again, and hopefully, my last one. All I need are three classes and I'm done. For good. ...Well, except for two foreign language classes that I haven't been able to take seeing as I wasn't a Bachelor of Arts until last year....
The fun thing of it is: I totally could have been out of school last May if I had just played my cards right. Hell, if I had known what I was getting into, I never would have gone to this school in the first place.
And with that, another segue....
I picked up this university's weekly trash, [The Rag]. Because, God knows, its articles are actually good, and informative, and don't read like book reports at all...
Lately, [Facebook] has been the focus of a few editorials and an article. This, in my opinion, just goes to show that this university is running around in the sociotechnological Iron Age. As far as I know, we didn't even have Facebook until finals week this past April. Not that this is our fault: we're just such an insignificant blip on college radar, that no one notices us. Go figure.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Facebook. I have found a few people that I missed from high school, and I even had someone friend me from grade school (which, seeing as he barely spoke to me in grade school, is odd, but hey -- Hi Pete, if you're reading this....). But, I think that wasting space and money on articles that basically say, "OMFG, Facebook is TEH COOL! I CAN S33 my FRIENZ on there. LOLLERSK8TES." Lame.
(Oh, and side note: don't get me started on the cartoonist. Thanks for having teh mad drawing skillz, but please. You are so not funny. Draw a funny person's cartoons.)
Okay, back to my point. Every semester, [University] has a "Student Speak Out" where students get to blow hot air to unreceptive bigwigs at this institution. A total waste of time other than being a total political clusterfuck.
Apparently, Facebook has come under fire at [University], seeing as I didn’t as I didn't go to the "Student Speak Out", I have no idea the entire story. From what book-reporty information I got from [The Rag]: something was going on that sparked "an investigation" (so I'm assuming defamation). “The university does not seek to ruin student’s fun, when students bring concern to the administration’s attention, they are obligated to investigate.” This of course, means that someone in charge has access to Facebook, and there were questions of censure.
While talking to The Roommate, she brought up the idea that since there are a lot of groups that are “I Broke [This or That] Policy” and “I Snuck Food out of the Cafeteria” and (my personal favorite) “If I had known this School Sucked Ass so Bad, I Wouldn’t have Applied”. I suppose that these things could be seen as defamation. I’m not really sure of all the Law surrounding this. I would not put it past this institution to get their religious, conservative panties in a twist about it.
Honestly, I would have hoped that [University] would have had bigger fish to fry. Like, why they got rid of the largest ice sculpture competition in the Midwest so they could make sure the athletic department could build that monstrosity. The new education building, sure. We’re an education powerhouse. Athletically? The team is full of Rudy’s.
But, let’s assume that [University] is policing Facebook. Despite [Dean of Student]’s assurance that “despite the fact that students are free to post what they wish, they should consider the nature of its content,” I have serious doubts that we are free to post what we choose.
Facebook is an independently-run network, whose only affiliation with [University] is that a bunch of student’s from the school are in a part of the network, and identified by the school’s name. [University] has no right whatsoever to declare tot eh owner of Facebook what he can and cannot put on the website. They can make recommendations and alerts to the owner that there are non-legal things going on. But ultimately, the owner decides what he’s going to do with his website.
What I see happening is that [University] gets annoyed that they can’t control what’s being said on Facebook, and they put a firewall up. Especially if things are being said that undermine the university’s authority. It’s like them. And, as a private school, they can do whatever they want. (Just ask me about my [Security on Campus] rant. I’d be happy to tell that travesty of justice.)
[University] is just going to have to face the facts that they’re not going to be everyone’s biggest fan. I think that it’s silly that, in short, they have these extremely conservative policies on campus, and expect them to be enforced by 18-22-year-olds. It’s not going to happen. [University] is still getting its money. Pitching a hissy because someone says on an internet site, “Yeah, I took food from the cafeteria; yeah, I had people in my room after 2 am; yeah, I drink beer in my room when I’m not supposed to” is moot. What can they do? Unless they see the person with the drinking paraphernalia (beer/liquor bottle), or catch that person drinking, or with someone in their room after 2, there’s nothing that they can do, legally. This falls under the theme that you can talk about doing illegal acts until the cows come home, you can’t be arrested. The minute that you are caught doing it, or with the tools to do it – you’re busted.
And frankly, I can have all the leather-whip-ball-gag-ass-spanking sex I want at 4 in the afternoon; and drink like a fish at the bar no less than a block away. My concern is, as I have had with every blog I’ve ever written, and actually had happen, is that [University] is going to get their panties in a twist because I have posted this blog address on my Facebook profile, and have no fear in saying I can’t stand it here. I would like to see them try to enforce something along the lines of, “You can’t post that, it’s defamatory.”
Whatever, I’ve learned my lesson. Anyone with half-a-brain could figure out what school I go to, especially if they linked from my Facebook profile. But, I never mention by name, which academic institution I go to. I’m not totally immune to potential effects, but I’ve done better by not mentioning anything by name.
I’m not afraid to say that I wasted my time and my parent’s money attending here. Nor am I afraid of becoming a total PR disaster for [University]. I have no fear telling potential students that it’s just not worth the aggravation.
I’d tell the administration at [University] to stick that in their pipe and smoke it, but I think the stick in their collective derrieres wouldn’t allow them to engage in such heathen behavior.
