Jo Allen, Ph'D', Senior Vice President and Provost Robert Freiling, Student Co Chair for Political E

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Jo Allen, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and
ProvostRobert Freiling, Student Co Chair for
Political Engagement CommitteeMarcine
Pickron-Davis, Assistant to the President for
Community Engagement

• Facebook Follies
• Serious Lessons for Students in Civic Engagement,
  
• Social Networking and Free Speech

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History
Bullock School, Wilmington, Delaware (Traditional
Boarding School)
Women, non-cadet boarding student admitted/PMC
Colleges
Widener University

• 1821 1858 1966 1972 1979 1980s
  1990s 2004

• Widener College/ cadet corps disbanded
• Acquisition of Delaware Law School
• Merger with Brandywine Junior College

Military instruction introduced
Program expansion
Facilities expansion
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Mission Statement

• As a leading metropolitan university, we achieve
  our mission at Widener by creating a learning
  environment where curricula are connected to
  societal issues through civic engagement.

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Mission Statement (contd)

• We lead by providing a unique combination of
  liberal arts and professional education in a
  challenging, scholarly, and culturally diverse
  academic community.
• We engage our students through dynamic teaching,
  active scholarship, personal attention, and
  experiential learning.

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Mission Statement, Contd.

• We inspire our students to be citizens of
  character who demonstrate professional and civic
  leadership.
• We contribute to the vitality and well-being of
  the communities we serve.

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Wideners Educational Focus

• Offers undergraduate and graduate programs in
  Arts Sciences, Business, Engineering,
  Hospitality Management, Human Service Professions
  (education, social work, clinical psychology, and
  physical therapy), Law, Nursing, and University
  College
• Focuses on applied, clinical and professional
  programs (graduate)
• Incorporates experiential learning in its
  curricula
• Embraces a holistic educational ideal
• Teaches ethics and civic values
• Serves the changing educational needs of its
  communities

Arts Sciences Foundation Integrated with
Professional Education
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Office of Community Engagement

• The Office for Community Engagement serves as the
  university liaison and the Presidents delegate
  to enhance community relations within the
  university and with the local community.
• The OCE advances Wideners mission to contribute
  to the vitality and well-being of the communities
  we serve by providing leadership in fostering a
  civically-engaged campus community reflected in
  academically based scholarship and outreach
  activities.

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Office of Community Engagement

• Curricular Engagement Academic Service-Learning
  Faculty Development Program
• Carnegie Civic Engagement Classification
• Student Engagement
• Presidents National Honor Roll (Learn and Serve
  America)
• Project Pericles

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Project Pericles

• Project Pericles is a national, non-profit
  organization that believes higher education must
  develop and implement programs that integrate the
  idealistic motivation of energy of students into
  the broader context of participatory citizenship
  and the values of our democracy.
• Project Pericles moves beyond service programs to
  establish a wide array of activities encompassing
  the classroom, campus and community.

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Political Engagement Committee (PEC)

• Meets at least once a week
• Consists of 15 members representing faculty,
  staff, administrators and students.
• Facilitates the overreaching goals of Project
  Pericles and Debating for Democracy.
• Generated the vision for our event and delegates
  to the D4D Subcommittee its execution.

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Debating for Democracy

• Debating for Democracy (D4D) is in its 2nd year
  with 22 Periclean schools participating.
• Year One (2006-2007) 6 schools participated
• The following schools have joined Widener
  University in exploring the topic of Online
  Social Networking and Privacy Rights
• Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
• Western New England College (Springfield, MA)
• Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
• Rhodes College (Memphis, TN)

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What is Debating for Democracy (D4D)?

• Objective Inspire student civic interest,
  understanding and active involvement.
• Students will research topics, develop their own
  opinions and advocate their positions on current
  issues of public import.
• Topics Immigration, Voter Rights, and Privacy
  Issues surrounding online social networking
  websites such as Facebook.
• Pillars Dialogue, Deliberation, Debate,
  Democracy

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D4D at Widener University

• Meets on a bi-weekly basis.
• Reports to Political Engagement Committee.
• Consists of seven members of the PEC.
• Facilitates the planning and details of our D4D
  event.
• Follows through on any suggestions or ideas
  presented at the PEC discussions and meetings.

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D4D Topic Widener University

• Widener is discussing privacy, freedom of speech
  and other First Amendment issues surrounding the
  popular social networking site Facebook
• What is Facebook?
• An online directory that connects people through
  social networks at colleges and universities.
  Facebook enables students to search for people at
  their school, find students who share similar
  interests or courses, look up friends of friends,
  network and visualize their social network via
  photos www.facebook.com

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Why Privacy Issues Facebook?

• Facebook issues have made national news from a
  number of campuses across the country
• Having a Facebook account has evolved into a
  social necessity for nearly every college student
• Upwards of 90 of students have an account

• Faculty, staff and
• administrators
• participate in social
• networking on Facebook.
• Raises issues pertaining
• to privacy rights

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Ripped from the Headlines

• Florida high school teacher loses job over
  content on MySpace (1/26/2006)
• Student arrested after police Facebooked him
  (8/1/2006)
• Facebook in talks with Yahoo for rumored 1
  Billion deal (9/21/2006)
• Sacramento State soccer team is under
  investigation due to Facebook photos (2/26/2007)

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Summary of D4D Activities

• Panel Discussion
• The Truth About Facebook, MySpace and File
  Sharing
• Facebook Forum
• Issues, headlines and topics displayed in student
  common grounds.
• Campus members were given the opportunity to
  write reactions and comments.
• Keynote Discussion
• Panel Discussion including constituents from the
  Widener Law School, ACLU and institutions with
  existing Facebook policy.

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Summary of Activities (contd.)

• Privacy Rights Online Social Networking Blog
• http//d4dwidener.blogspot.com
• Provides a unitary discussion forum where new
  resources and discussions can be shared by
  students across participating schools.

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Next Steps in Our Project

• Research institutional policies
• Explore national trends among colleges and
  universities regarding Facebook policy and/or
  regulation.
• Review assessment of previous events to determine
  which were most effective for generating
  discussion.
• Analyze Widener students perceptions regarding
  policy implementation on campus.
• Explore innovative means of communicating and
  generating discussion related to our topic
• Examples Web Blogs, Classroom Discussions, Etc..
• Raise awareness of the topic, direction, events,
  etc.

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Integration of Critical Creative Thinking

• Summary and Synthesis
• Ex What are the issues? How is this playing
  out on multiple fronts?
• Analysis
• Ex Is this free speech? Invasion of privacy?
• Problem solving
• Ex Should the campus initiate rules to protect
  the students? If so, what kind?

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Multidisciplinary Reasoning

• Philosophy
• Law
• Ethics
• Technology
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Communications

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Ethical Reasoning and Action

• How do we reconcile rights versus judgment?
• How do we reconcile ability with discretion?
• How do we engage others in the conversation?
• How do we use elements of our various backgrounds
  to inform this discussion?

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Communication

• Peer-to-peer (students, faculty, administrators)
• Faculty-to-student
• Student-to-faculty
• Administrators to student
• Student to administrators
• Faculty to administrators
• Administrators to faculty

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Communication (contd.)

• Civic/Civil Rights
• Personal Privacy
• Personal, Group, Institutional Security
• Wisdom, judgment, discretion
• Legalities

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Desired Project Objectives

• Engage the student community in dialogue about
  issues surrounding online social networking.
• Share research gathered regarding peer
  institutions policies and practices.
• Provide a forum for students to help shape
  Widener University institutional policies on
  censorship regarding online social networking.

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Assessment Direct Survey (3-2-1)

• What are 3 new things you have taken away from
  this event?
• Describe 2 ways in which your thinking about
  Facebook has changed
• What is 1 thing you will change in the way you
  use Facebook?
• What questions do you have or comments that you
  would like to make?

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What Did You Learn?

• Its not just for close friends
• There really isnt privacy
• Posting harmful material/criminal content can be
  used in the justice system
• Facebook can work to a communitys advantage when
  it comes to communication
• Used as a democratic tool
• Some things are not protected by the Constitution.

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How Did Your Thinking Change?

• Even if you have private settings, people can
  still access your page
• Facebook can be used to communicate in time of
  need
• Never thought Facebook could get me in trouble

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What Will You Change

• I will be more careful about what I post
• Will not put anything on that will get me in
  trouble
• Make my settings more private and review the
  photos I have on campus
• Will not put too much personal information on
  Facebook
• Delete my incriminating photos
• Update my privacy settings

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Lessons Learned.

• Fostering Faculty, Student and Administrative
  Partnerships
• Promoting Faculty Engagement
• Promoting Student Leadership
• Supporting a student-driven topic
• Supporting a student-driven design
• Promoting partnership-based assessment

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For Your Own Consideration.

• How is Facebook used on your campus? How do you
  know?
• Does your campus have any policies about the use
  of Facebook?
• Does your campus plan any policies?
• Who will be included in the conversation?

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Questions for Further Consideration

• What is the advantage of just ignoring Facebook?
• What is the disadvantage of ignoring Facebook?
• What other implications might arise for Internet
  usage (or other technologies) that might engage
  your students in dialogue and debate from a
  democracy-based perspective?

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• QUESTIONS?
• COMMENTS?