Facebook Controversy

Many teenagers have occasional issues with their educators, but it’s not very often that EMHS’ administration is seriously accused by dozens of students of violating centuries old constitutional rights.  When this happened, it understandably caused quite a stir.

According to students, within the past few months, three groups on the popular social networking site Facebook have been deleted by their creators at the request of school officials who deemed the groups inappropriate.  One of the groups was jokingly dedicated to destroying the Peace Pole in front of the school, one was for people who “hated” a certain teacher, and the third was called simply, “EMHS Sucks.”  In response to the deletions, another group, “Guess what EMHS? we have opinons- stop making us delete groups…” was made to protest what the creator perceived as students being forced “to delete a group they made because it goes against EMHS.”

The group sparked intense debate, with students divided over whether the school was justified in asking the groups’ creators to delete them.  “As long as our school continues to spy on us and tell us what to do, we have the right to complain about it and have an strong opinion about it,” one student, a supporter of the protest group, wrote.  Another supporter wrote that she was, “Tired of not being able to speak my mind at emhs cause everyone will give me crap about it and try to explain to me that my standards are WRONG.”

Other students were more ambivalent.  One wrote that, “Emhs has no right to tell us what to do outside of school,” but agreed that, “some of the groups were hurtful.”  Though she had initially joined the anti-teacher group, she said she had since had a change of heart.  “The groups were quite inappropriate,” she wrote, “and shouldnt have been created in the first place.”

Still other students wholeheartedly agreed with the school’s actions.  “The creators of these groups,” a student wrote, “as members of the EMHS community, have every right to express their opinion, so long as they do so in a civil manner, and so long as the opinion itself is deemed valid by the community, i.e. not what we call hate speech. (so far, I would argue that the three groups I know of fall into those two categories) Once more, we all signed onto this when we wrote our name on the on the handbook card, we all sign on to this whenever we join a community or institution. This is not unique to EMHS. It is a part of living together in any community.”

The controversy even attracted external attention, as several former students and at least one person who, as far as the author can tell, has no direct connection to the school, joined the Facebook debate.  These posters were also divided in their positions regarding the school’s actions.

Principal Paul Leaman says he was only personally made aware of one of the groups, the one for people who hated a certain teacher.  He was informed by Dean of Students Sherman Eberly; Mr. Eberly heard of the group from a faculty member, who had in turn learned of it from a student.  Because of what Mr. Leaman called the “hurtful nature” of the group, the two agreed to take action.  After Mr. Eberly discussed the matter with the group’s creator, the group was deleted.

Mr. Eberly says he feels that some of the statements made on the group dedicated to hating a teacher were “almost slanderous,” and that some might even be considered “threatening.”  He feels that the group went against the code of conduct by which all EMHS students agree to abide, and that the administration was therefore entirely justified in asking for it to be deleted. 

“People say, well, it wasn’t meant for teachers and parents,” Eberly added, “and yeah, maybe you didn’t intend for them to see it, but still, you posted it in a public forum.”  Mr. Eberly says that it isn’t uncommon for schools and businesses to utilize information found on Facebook and other sites.  For instance, he says that at JMU, if a picture on Facebook shows a student violating the behavior code (e.g., by drug use,) then disciplinary action can be taken just as if the student was caught in the act.

- Dustin Crummett

Comments

[Nathan Hershberger]

It's too bad no one was actually interested in discussing this issue on that Facebook group. Chronic whining about EMHS policies without any reasoning behind provocative statements is one of my greatest pet peeves. Many students don't have an appropriate appreciation for what EMHS is giving them.

Good article Dustin.

[Ellen Brodersen]

The feeling of anonymity that one experiences when posting to a web site can be quickly lost, as Dustin so clearly points out in his article - which can come back to bite you. Nathan I too would like to see some additional discussion of this topic. With one click of a button we now know and see more of everyone's personal life than could ever have been imagined. Is this good or bad? where are the lines between personal and public?
Good Article