In early October news outlets received a photo of an Algonquin police foundations student in uniform posing as a Nazi that was posted to a private group on Facebook
Phil Gaudreau, Algonquin’s communications officer, could not provide detail over any disciplinary action that was taken against the student.
“What I can say, is that lapses in judgment around social media among our student body happen on a semi-regular basis,” said Gaudreau. “Imagine what it would look like if we expelled every student who did something they shouldn’t on social media. In these situations, we have a student conduct code that outlines the behavior we expect. And the process we follow when we receive a complaint.”
Gaudreau explained that not all complaints lead to a disciplinary hearing: Some are resolved through an agreement with college security.
Elizabeth Babiak, the internal communications officer, provided a best practices document for students to follow on social media.
The document advises students to think twice before they post anything online.
“A photo, video or comment you post today will be saved somewhere online even if you try to delete. What could be fun today can be seen as embarrassing to your future self or to a future employer.”
Robert Nettleton, a social media strategy teacher, has similar advice for students.
“You want to be comfortable that whatever you post is the best representation of what you want perfect strangers to see,” said Nettleton.
“I think people are conscious of their self-image and how they want to present themselves but it’s that moment of spontaneity. Where you think something is funny, but when you take away context it can just be offensive.”
Nettleton cautions students that their social media profiles may not be as private as they think they are.
“There’s this illusion of privacy that you have on social media because it’s your personal account,” said Nettleton. “But you need to understand that no matter what your privacy settings are, the people who are your followers, they may see something that you post that could be immortalized forever with something as easy as a screen cap.”