The student president of a prestigious British university says disciplinary actions by school officials doled out through the popular social networking site Facebook are an invasion of privacy.
Campus officials at Oxford University in England have been using the popular social networking site to monitor the behaviour of students engaging in activities known on the campus as "trashings."
"Trashings" can involve students spraying each other with champagne, flour, foam and eggs to celebrate finishing their exams.
The university proctors, who are in charge of discipline on the campus have been using Facebook to take action on post-exam celebrations by emailing students whose profiles contained photos of "trashings."
The student union has responded by advising students with Facebook accounts to change their privacy settings to ensure staff and faculty will not be able to view their profiles and photographs.
"I think there's a distinction between a site like Facebook, which is a community site with a certain ethos, and then just sticking photos online," student union president Martin McCluskey told CTV's Canada AM. "Facebook isn't a public site in the sense of the word."
According to McCluskey students have been receiving fines of US$80 to $200 in the emails from the disciplinary officials for breaking campus rules.
"The University Proctors have told the students that they are welcome to meet their friends after their exams but that students who create a mess in the street with food or alcohol, or who indulge in anti-social behaviour contrary to University regulations, will be disciplined," a university spokesman told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, which is in line with university policy.
The university proctors had been handing out fines to students caught engaging in "trashing" since 2004. However, McCluskey contends students were always warned about regulations in advance and did not know that posting photos on Facebook would land them in hot water with the administration.
"For the past few years they've always had on-the-spot fines and the student union has worked with them to ensure that students are aware of the penalties that they face," McCluskey said. "But I think the reason why we're so annoyed ... this year is that it was completely unwarned and in many cases it was completely unwarranted."
McCluskey said that the student union has been having meetings with university officials to ensure that the issue is handled differently in the future.
"We need to strike a balance between respect for the community we live in -- in other words the city of Oxford and the people of Oxford -- and also these hijinks and celebrations after exams," McCluskey said.
With files from The Associated Press
