Reading the linked newspaper article, the professor had not 'friended' any students (that's my Facebook policy, too).
Depending on how your account is set up, I think you can theoretically make everything you put on Facebook completely public, though the defaults are fairly private (only friends, maybe friends of friends). I restrict pretty much any of my content to only friends and not friends of friends... but, it is complicated. I think a friend can 'share' your posting onto their page, which means all their friends can see it, etc. The professor, however, would see that happen. So, IMO, the most likely explanation is that a fellow instructor friend whom she didn't know very well shared this with someone else verbally, maybe an administrator, maybe fellow faculty. The administrators saw the page, probably by just asking the 'whistleblower' to show it to them. According to the linked newspaper article, the professor had a conflict with administration stemming from an article written for the Chronicle of Higher Education. This may be an excuse to do something to her that they couldn't do after the Chronicle article and use the Alabama Huntsville shooting as sufficient justification. Of course, I'm also just plain guessing. Paul On Mar 1, 2010, at 4:57 PM, Christopher D. Green wrote: > > > A theory: A student saw the postings, told his/her parents, who complained to > the school, citing the recent Alabama shootings, which felt it had to "do > something" to show that it was taking the matter as seriously as the parent > demanded. > > Chris > -- > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > chri...@yorku.ca > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > ========================== > > ============= > > Helweg-Larsen, Marie wrote: >> >> Yes it is surprising that people don't have common sense (my daughter's high >> school FB friends repeatedly post detailed pictures on FB of their underage >> drinking and drug use). But is suspension for the professor (or any >> employee) really necessary! What about just a normal "chat" by the dean (or >> whomever) reminding the professor about how public facebook is. Gesh - >> imagine if people had to be suspended every time they didn't make a good >> choice or made a minor error. >> >> Marie >> >> **************************************************** >> Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. >> Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology >> Kaufman 168, Dickinson College >> Carlisle, PA 17013, office (717) 245-1562, fax (717) 245-1971 >> Office hours: Mon & Wed 2-3:30 >> http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html >> **************************************************** >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Penley, Julie [mailto:jpen...@epcc.edu] >> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 3:56 PM >> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) >> Subject: RE: [tips] Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting >> >> It's like that old commercial...they tell two friends, and they tell two >> friends, and so on and so on. I'm not a FB expert but, while Gadsden's posts >> wouldn't be seen by non-friends, I believe comments to her posts would be >> visible to the poster's friends. Right? >> >> Depending on where she's doing her FB'ing, universities have the legal >> authority to monitor employee's computer use. >> >> Although a lack of common sense isn't a crime, this case is a good example >> of why people should think twice about what they post on social networking >> sites. It's hard to convey humor (or sarcasm or whatever she was going for) >> in writing. >> >> Julie >> >> >> >> Julie A. Penley, Ph.D. >> Associate Professor of Psychology >> Special Assistant to the Dean >> El Paso Community College >> PO Box 20500 >> El Paso, TX 79998-0500 >> Office phone: (915) 831-3210 >> Department fax: (915) 831-2324 >> email: jpen...@epcc.edu >> webpage: http://www.epcc.edu/facultypages/jpenley >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Michael Smith [mailto:tipsl...@gmail.com] >> Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 1:44 PM >> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) >> Subject: Re: [tips] Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting >> >> I suppose one of her 'friends' must have supplied the postings to the >> relevant people otherwise how would they have it if it was only >> visible to her friends? (admitting I don't really know much about >> facebook). >> >> Is freedom of speech still alive? >> >> --Mike >> >> On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Pollak, Edward <epol...@wcupa.edu> wrote: >> >>> Professor Suspended Over Facebook Venting >>> >>> East Stroudsburg University has suspended Gloria Gadsden, a sociology >>> professor, for joking comments she posted on her Facebook page that >>> apparently were taken seriously, The Pocono Record reported. One comment was >>> about wanting to hire a hit man. Another said "had a good day today, DIDN'T >>> want to kill even one student :-). Now Friday was a different story." >>> Gadsden said that in the meeting where she was told of the suspension, a >>> dean referenced last month's murders at the University of Alabama in >>> Huntsville. Gadsden said that the humor was clear to her Facebook friends >>> and she doesn't know why the university was monitoring her account. >>> University officials said that they did not routinely monitor Facebook >>> accounts and that they couldn't discuss details of Gadsden's case. >>> >>> See >>> http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100226/NEWS/2260344 >>> >>> >>> >>> Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. >>> >>> Department of Psychology >>> >>> West Chester University of Pennsylvania >>> >>> epol...@wcupa.edu >>> >>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> >>> Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, & bluegrass fiddler...... in >>> approximate order of importance. >>> >>> >>> >>> --- >>> >>> You are currently subscribed to tips as: tipsl...@gmail.com. >>> >>> To unsubscribe click here: >>> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13541.42a7e8017ab9578358f118300f4720fb&n=T&l=tips&o=959 >>> >>> (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) >>> >>> or send a blank email to >>> leave-959-13541.42a7e8017ab9578358f118300f472...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >>> >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: jpen...@epcc.edu. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13295.327efb45357264e0d764058cad59bba0&n=T&l=tips&o=962 >> or send a blank email to >> leave-962-13295.327efb45357264e0d764058cad59b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: helw...@dickinson.edu. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a4468797f&n=T&l=tips&o=965 >> or send a blank email to >> leave-965-13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a44687...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: chri...@yorku.ca. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13132.a868d710aa4ef67a68807ce4fe8bd0da&n=T&l=tips&o=967 >> or send a blank email to >> leave-967-13132.a868d710aa4ef67a68807ce4fe8bd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> >> >> > > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: pcbernha...@frostburg.edu. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=971 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-971-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. 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