answering machine, or cell phone voicemail. Prospective employers and others may use this
interaction as part of their evaluation of your character as a potential candidate.
Websites & Online Communities
Students should be mindful that content posted on websites and online communities are considered
public information. Many employers dedicate staff to research and review sites to gather additional
information about the character of potential employment candidates.
Online communities and tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Tumbler, etc., are great
innovations that offer opportunities to interact with an extraordinarily expansive universe of new people.
Individuals with particular social identities or hobbies can use it to find friends with common interests.
Our basic humanity is, for better or for worse, vulnerable to context, circumstance, and interpretation.
It is important to remember that online communities and tools create as many obligations as they do
opportunities for expression.
1. There are various safety and security risks to consider when using online communities. Students
often display their full names, e-mail addresses, profiles, instant-message screen names, cell
phone/other numbers and class schedules online for public viewing. Online communities can be
used as a device to stalk another person. A potential stalker may have little hesitation sending
harassing or threatening electronic communications to a victim. Cyber bullying and/or stalking
generally involves harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly.
2. Online communities are advertised as a private environment that is closed to the public because
its members must be invited and must log in with a username and password. Students must
remember that the internet is an open, unlimited international community. Online communities are
open to students, faculty, staff, alumnae, and employers.
Therefore, students are encouraged
to consider the number of faculty, staff, employers, and alumnae who may have access or
be provided information from websites and online communities that may impact decisions
about employment, scholarships, leadership positions, and/or other opportunities.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Snap Chat and other online communities and tools represent
a variety of forums in which you can make choices about how you choose to represent yourself
publicly. However, that freedom does not suggest that you can do so without impunity. Because we
live in a society in which expression is judged in legal, policy, and even personal ways, it is important
to remember the consequences of such expression no matter how fun it might seem in the moment.
Consequences for Online Community Violations
Atlanta University Center Consortium faculty, staff and administrators are not actively seeking
evidence of illegal activity and/or violations of any institution’s Community Standards and Code of
Conduct online. Most cases are brought to our attention by students, parents, and/or other people
enrolled in and/or connected to the various College communities. In cases where evidence of a
violation of an institution’s Community Standards and Code of Conduct and/or other illegal activity is
posted online, the information is provided to the appropriate Public Safety and/or Student
Conduct/Judicial Officer to address the issue as a Code of Conduct violation and/or a law violation.
Thus, students are encouraged to think about future consequences for their actions before posting
any information that might be threatening, harassing, intimidating, or just plain inappropriate, as it may
be a violation of the College community standards and behavioral expectations or an actual law
violation.
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