Watch what you write on FaceBook, teachers

Date: March 2, 2010

Gloria Y. Gadsden, an associate professor of sociology at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, was escorted off the campus on Wednesday because of jokes she had made on her Facebook page about wanting to kill students.
On Monday the professor posted this update: "Had a good day today, didn't want to kill even one student.:-) Now Friday was a different story ..." In another comment, on January 21, she wrote: "Does anyone know where I can find a very discrete hitman, it's been that kind of day."

But it may not be that simple:

However, Ms. Gadsden said she believes her suspension stems from a racial-harassment complaint she filed with the university last month and from an op-ed article she wrote for The Chronicle in 2008 about the challenges of being a black faculty member.

And a little later:

After her opinion piece was published in The Chronicle, she said she faced disapproval of it on the campus. She said her life was made difficult by administrators, and she encountered so much hostility from one colleague that she filed a racial-harassment complaint with the university last month.

Now I know this isn't about choral music, but it is about teaching and technology. We talk about that alot here!

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Susan Marrier on March 2, 2010 3:32am

I think it's important to remember not to put anything anywhere on the internet that you would not want the whole world to see. Even on secure sites, it's very easy to lift things and post them elsewhere.

Nan Beth Walton on March 2, 2010 11:26am

What has been wonderful about our new technology is that we can be linked with those who share our challenges, joys and sorrows. It has been so comforting to be able to share when we feel most alone or overrun in our jobs. But, since anyone can find pretty much anything published online, with little effort, those sharings become public and can easily be misunderstood, or simply used against us by someone who has an agenda that involves our furture employment. If you really need to vent, it might be best to do it with online buddies via private email, and hopefully, those are folks who have your best interests at heart, at least in the global sense about caring for one another. Beyond that, though, I think you have to imagine that your words are going to be read by everyone, and that you should choose only what you are willing for everyone to read on ay public site.

Deeann Mathews on March 3, 2010 3:56pm

There is an old proverb, which I will amend: "If you do not want a thing known, do not say it" . . . and definitely, definitely, definitely do not post it on the Internet. I know that is some industries, employers are making hiring decisions based on what they find on Facebook and the like; I shudder to think of the implications of that in this economy for an awful lot of people.

And in the post-Columbine, post-9-11 world, any talk of doing violence in a school or any public square is just . . . well, fill in your own adjectives.

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