Syracuse field hockey head coach Kathleen Parker doesn’t understand the obsession with Facebook, MySpace or any other social site designed to keep in touch with friends.

Parker’s daughter Stephanie, a freshman at the University of Delaware, invited her mother to be a friend on Facebook. Michael Byrne, Stephanie’s boyfriend and a junior linebacker for Delaware football team, did the same.

Parker eventually obliged after Stephanie pestered her to accept. Then the confirmation request popped up.

‘How do you know Michael Byrne?’

Weird, Parker thought. Known for her dry humor, Parker wrote she used to date Byrne but now they’re just good friends. Then she poked Byrne and joked to Stephanie, ‘I hope this 6-foot-6, 300-pound lineman doesn’t poke me back.’

‘Somebody will read that and say, ‘Look at this,” Parker said. ‘I’m going to be in trouble and get called in by the NCAA for living with athletes from other schools.’

Aside from Parker’s joking, she knows this issue is no laughing matter. SU athletic officials and coaches fear how innocent and unintentional content posted on personal sites can be lumped with malicious and unethical content.

Numerous college athletic programs have had run-ins with Facebook, a social network designed initially for college students that currently has 9.5 million users, according to its Web site.

Though there haven’t been any reported problems at Syracuse, athletic officials, coaches and players acknowledged department officials stressed the responsible use of social sites more this year during each fall team’s preseason meeting.

For players who choose to use them, officials suggested their profiles should adhere to rules that protect the student’s privacy and the school’s image and to NCAA regulations like drinking, hazing and gambling.

The officials have left it up to the coaches on how to discuss the issue with their respective team. Some recognize Facebook and MySpace as a technological trend – a generational issue – and see the inevitability that college students would use such sites. Others, like SU men’s lacrosse coach John Desko, suggest potential consequences outweigh any social appeal because it makes the athlete vulnerable.

Athletic officials, coaches and players acknowledge Syracuse isn’t following up by policing the player’s behavior until a potential problem is alerted to the compliance office or other athletic officials. In the meantime, Syracuse is leaving it up to the athletes to make sure their profile is clean of underage drinking, drug use, hazing and injury reports that may tip off opponents and gamblers.

‘We have not felt it appropriate for us to develop a uniform stance that says, ‘Hey, you can’t do this,’ in large part because of the complexities involved with it,’ said Rob Edson, SU’s senior associate director of athletics. ‘Frankly, we’ve watched what other schools around the country have done. There have been a lot of schools who have tried to implement a department-wide policy and have found that it’s not something they can manage.’

Loyola University in Chicago and Kent State banned their athletes from using social sites earlier this year. In December, Florida State threatened to pull scholarships if athletes didn’t remove obscene photos in 10 days.

The Daily Kent Stater, Kent State’s student-run newspaper, reported in July that Kent State retracted its previous stance after athletic officials reviewed Facebook’s privacy settings. Kent State presently adopts a similar policy Syracuse has put in place, which focuses more on educating athletes and coaches about the potential dangers of Facebook and MySpace, but does not prohibit its use.

Such actions have stemmed from various programs running into trouble due to the content displayed on athletes’ profiles. The Northwestern women’s soccer program was suspended in May after Facebook photos depicting hazing surfaced on badjocks.com, a Web site that posts photos and videos specifically of athletes in compromising situations.

The NCAA presently doesn’t have a stance on social sites and are not explicitly written in its bylaws. But Jennifer Kearns, associate director of public and media relations for the NCAA, said bylaws addressing hazing, drug use and gambling are applicable to any behavior expressed on personal sites. Underage drinking is deemed a law enforcement issue.

Edson specifically pinpointed the Northwestern incident as well as the Duke men’s lacrosse rape allegations last spring – though it has nothing to do with Facebook – as triggering points to start raising awareness about social sites.

The hazing incident at Northwestern showed all sports are vulnerable, not just high-profile ones like football and basketball. Edson saw this as a talking point for athletic officials to address the non-revenues teams.

‘It gives you a concrete example,’ Edson said. ‘It’s not just sitting at the head of the room and preaching to somebody saying you can’t do X, Y, Z. You can show a real life example that if you make a certain choice you can tell what the potential consequence is.’

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Chris Muldoon, a senior long-distance runner on the SU cross country team, knew the routine in and out. It was his fourth compliance meeting and he figured he was going to hear the same topics: eligibility requirements, drug testing, underage drinking, safety, academic integrity, you name it. But then athletic officials brought up social sites like Facebook and MySpace.

‘There were probably little differences that popped up every year,’ Muldoon said. ‘But (the social site issue) was one thing that I knew definitely wasn’t an issue last year.’

Pat Perritt, a sophomore midfielder for SU’s men’s lacrosse team, didn’t notice. He tuned out during the meeting once social sites were addressed because he said he doesn’t have a site and figured it wouldn’t apply to him.

Amanda Arcuri, a sophomore forward of the SU women’s soccer team, was somewhat shocked and amused when she heard it being brought up. Usually only college students talk about these sites, Arcuri thought. But not this time.

Lauren Jentzen and Erin McQuillan, members of the women’s soccer team and volleyball team respectively, didn’t know mentioning team injuries – even just writing a wall message to wish a teammate to recover – is off limits because it violates the Health Insurance Portability Act, which aims to keep an individual’s health a private issue. It can also indirectly aid gamblers looking for an advantage on the spread.

They didn’t know beforehand, either, that posting game photos was technically a copyright infringement since they are being copied from local media outlets.

Women’s soccer head coach Pat Farmer told his players of the need to keep private information – phone numbers, addresses – off their profiles. Farmer and Mary McCracken, the associate field hockey coach, expressed concern in regards to predators and how it’s conceivable for anyone to track down one of their players over the Internet.

‘The biggest focus was some of the ladies thought, ‘Well, only students with college accounts can see this,” Farmer said. ‘No, that’s not the case anymore.’

Facebook recently announced anyone with an email address can attain an account, no longer restricting membership to people with .edu addresses. The newly-added mini news feed documents every action a user takes on his or her account ranging from wall posts to pokes.

Muldoon and Jentzen admit, though, that anything news feeds post is easily accessible if a user wanted to look for it anyway. The new program just makes it easier. That addition, nonetheless, made Edvin Hot, a junior on the SU men’s soccer team, say recently he is thinking of removing his account because it seems like an invasion of privacy.

One of the players on the SU men’s basketball team would know a thing or two about that. Mike Hopkins, the assistant coach for men’s team, said he learned last year that someone created a fake MySpace profile of one his players, although he wouldn’t name who.

‘I’m afraid to buy something over the Internet alone,’ Hopkins said. ‘You hear so many horror stories. With this, all you’re trying to do is protect the student-athlete to the best way you possibly can.’

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No one hides it. Edson and all fall coaches admit they’re vested in also protecting the university’s image, not just the athletes. But how much is Syracuse’s image weighed?

Given that the school’s policy respects the student’s autonomy, it’s hard to tell. Reggie Terry, SU’s football director of football operations and player development, said the current policy is no different than what is written in the student code of conduct and that Judicial Affairs would enforce any punishment, if need be.

‘The kids fully understand what the expectation is,’ Terry said. ‘At the same time there are repercussions for your actions. There is no gray area in what the expectations are. If there is something that’s on there you would be embarrassed to show your mother, your coach or somebody else close to you, it’s a problem. I don’t think it’s rocket science to figure out if this is okay or not okay.’

The consequences are obvious. A lost scholarship, a suspended program, reduction in games, maybe even expulsion. But there isn’t a measuring stick to determine what punishment is suitable for what action, given there is no set administrative policy to begin with.

Delone Carter, a freshman tailback, and Ryan Durand, a sophomore offensive guard, also noted little discussion in regards to social sites has taken place among the football coaching staff since the preseason meeting. Durand said this issue is talked about often among players but it’s nothing anyone worries about too much.

Edson parallels this policy to parenting. It’s hard to determine the balance of having a tight lid on a child’s behavior to giving him or her the freedom to make their own choices. Other coaches see the challenge, too. After all, it’s college

‘You hope they use the same good judgment in these types of things,’ SU men’s soccer coach Dean Foti said. ‘If I’m going to be accountable for what they put on there, I’m going to make sure I have a policy in place so I can just say I addressed it.’

Jimmy Linus, a sophomore midfielder/forward with the men’s soccer team, described the issue as ‘an honor system.’ Edson, coaches and players agreed with that assessment.

‘We don’t monitor what the student-athletes do every Friday or Saturday night either,’ Edson said. ‘It comes back to reinforcing good behavior, consciously reinforcing student-athletes to use good judgment, asking them to abide by whatever guidelines you establish.’

Greg Robinson, SU’s head football coach, thinks the best approach is to continuously educate. In a technological age where people hide identities and loopholes are always discovered, education seems to be the best someone has control over.

‘If you can’t trust your kids you shouldn’t have them at your school,’ Hopkins said. ‘All we can do is educate them as much as possible and let them know the dangers and risks.’

Published on September 26, 2006 at 12:00 pm