Question: Should universities restrict student-athletes from using social media?
It has become miraculously easy to follow the lives of top student-athletes. Try it. Start typing in an athlete’s name on Google, and the search service will have that name followed by Twitter as a suggestion.
Just like that, you can see what they had for breakfast or how practice was.
Of course, student athletes should be able to utilize the resources as the rest of the student body does, but discussing game strategy or degrading opponents would best be left off social media sites.
Invariably, this type of access leaves athletic departments in a conundrum. How do they give students the freedom to express themselves online while also ensuring that any harmful or distasteful language does not degrade the institution?
ASU Associate Athletic Director Bill Kennedy, who oversees student conduct issues, elaborated on this theme.
“[The social media issue] warrants more study, of how to balance freedom as individuals with the responsibility of being a student athlete. [The ASU] Athletic Department does not have an overarching policy,” he said.
Studies on this issue are much needed. Student-athletes have used their stature to espouse their views as well as make harmful comments about their own team and other teams.
This inevitably reflects negatively upon the athlete’s school. They do not have scholarships to use inflammatory language, which serves little purpose other than to negatively reflect on the student’s university.
The vast majority of college teams have chosen to self-regulate, rather then impose an outright ban of social media for sports teams.
For example, ASU’s men’s basketball team does not have strict guidelines or regulations in place for its players, according to Doug Tammaro, the sports information director for ASU’s men’s basketball and golf teams.
However, other teams are unwilling to risk the consequences of players accessing social media. The University of Miami football team is banned from Twitter, according to USA Today.
The impetus for these decisions is strikingly clear. Take, for instance, a former center for the University of Texas football team, Buck Burnette, who was dismissed from the team after posting inappropriate material right after President Barack Obama was elected.
“All the hunters gather up, we have a (racial slur) in the White House,” read his Facebook page.
The best practices to address the evolving issue are unclear. ASU has been stain-free of any social media crises largely due to “educating what’s right and wrong,” Tammaro said.
Some less trusting schools have employed such draconian measures as hiring a service like udiligence.com, which automatically monitors the social media accounts of student-athletes.
This is undoubtedly an ill-advised measure, as student-athletes should not have to worry about Big Brother watching them. More preventive measures, such as ASU’s persistent efforts to educate student-athletes about social media and its consequences, go much further without being overly intrusive.
As Tammaro astutely put it, social media platforms are akin to a personal press conference. Thus, a potential crisis is just around the Twitter feed.
Preventive measures are what we need. And with a written policy by the NCAA not forthcoming, ASU coaches and players would benefit from a University policy stating that social media is a privilege for student-athletes.
Student-athletes must understand that degrading comments about a coach, team or public figure can not only harm the University, but also misrepresent what a responsible Sun Devil student stands for.
Student-athletes, berate Zach at Zlevinep@asu.edu
