More than 9 million college students from about 2,000 colleges around the country have been making friends, romances and other social connections on Facebook.com, a Web site created in Feb. 2004 to unite students with similar interests.
But users beware.
Though it has yet to happen at the University, police and authorities at universities across the country are using the Web site to identify and prosecute offenses.
Students can post pictures, personal anecdotes and favorite activities on their profiles, and anyone within a university system, be it staff, faculty or student, can access the profiles using a school e-mail account.
Pennsylvania State University Police reportedly used Facebook.com after the Oct. 8 football game against Ohio State University to identify and prosecute fans who rushed the field after the game.
“We are doing as much as we can to identify people who violated the law,” University Police Assistant Director Tyrone Parham told Penn State’s student newspaper, The Collegian.
“Facebook is a method we are using, but it’s one of many. Some pictures are on people’s personal Web pages and there are cameras inside the stadium that can zoom in pretty well,” Parham said.
Penn State junior Emilie Romero told the newspaper that she received a call on Nov. 1 from authorities who claimed to have identified her in a picture showing her on the field.
Romero said she could face fines up to $2,000, two years in jail and sanctions from the university’s Office of Judicial Affairs.
Other universities are paging through Facebook to check for conduct code violations.
Ryan Miner, a sophomore at Duquesne University, a Catholic college in Pittsburgh, was ordered by the university to write a 10-page essay after posting a comment on Facebook that the university perceived to be homophobic.
“I was surprised because I was not aware that the First Amendment was limited; that (the university) is able to restrict my right, especially on Facebook, which is a separate entity,” Miner told The Duquesne Duke newspaper.
Miner refused to write the essay.
Students at the University aren’t at risk of prosecution yet, according to the Eugene Police Department and Department of Public Safety officials, but it’s not out of the question.
DPS Director Tom Hicks said Facebook.com and MySpace.com could be used to gather information about people, but neither have been used so far.
“We’re aware of it because sometimes people put info on there that is a little too personal and people get harassed,” Hicks said. “We certainly advise people to be careful with personal information.”
EPD spokeswoman Kerry Delf said the department is not using the site to track criminal activity.
The University’s Director of Student Judicial Affairs, Chris Loschiavo, wrote an e-mail to the Emerald outlining his reasons for using the site.
“One, I just wanted to know what Facebook is and what it offers. Two, there was a complaint lodged last year involving Facebook so I needed an account to view the evidence presented,” the e-mail said.
Loschiavo said he doesn’t search Facebook for student conduct code violations but said he will visit the site to view evidence regarding violations reported to his office.
Students across the country are being advised by university administrators and other officials to be cautious when posting information online.

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