Assignment #8

I chose to write about "Free speech off campus must be protected". It was about a student who was called to the student conduct board because of a series of Facebook postings. I believe her acts were not serious enough to call her Minnesota Supreme Court. She posted the thoughts on her personal Facebook account. If anyone got offended by what she was posting they should've just deleted her as a friend. I don't think her post were a serious threat to harm anyone. The college just blew the whole situation out of proportion to teach the whole student body a lesson. They took one harmless student and punished her actions to teach every other student to watch what they post on social networking sites. School and personal life are two different worlds, and she should not be punished in school for a action she did in her personal life. I agree that if she posted threats to another student in a school organization or network then she should be punished. Her personal life should be protected, and not be punishable by her school. It was a personal inside joke she shared with friends. If the person that reported her to the university was offended by the post then they shouldn't have a Facebook at all because Facebook has a lot of offensive post. I believe she should not be punished so extremely because it was a personal post and was not directed to the university.