Four “offensive” Facebook groups have sparked campuswide discussion about what a university’s role is in regulating online content and free speech.

Private colleges, much like privately owned companies, have the power to regulate online content supplied by and related to the institution. The creation of forums bashing classes in the Medill School of Journalism on thefacebook.com brought this issue home for Northwestern students.

Thefacebook is an online forum for students, faculty, staff and alumni at colleges in the United States. More than 5,000 current NU students are registered with thefacebook.com. About 50 faculty members are registered on thefacebook.

Northwestern administrators are currently wrestling with what Internet content is considered fair game, said Mary Desler, the associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

“Private universities are generally legally free to punish speech, even outside the classroom, but have generally agreed to give students the academic freedom to say offensive comments,” said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at University of California-Los Angeles, who researches cyberspace law and free speech.

NU administrators have access to all university e-mail accounts, listservs and pubweb Web sites, Desler said.

The university investigated and punished students in the past for violating policies listed in the Student Handbook — such as hate crimes — through these outlets, she added.

“If someone sends an e-mail that violates the sexual harassment policy, for example, we’re going to have a conversation,” Desler said.

Currently NU can’t punish any information found on non-school Web sites or online forums, such as Web logs or thefacebook.com, Desler said.

Administrators have encountered more instances of student misbehavior with the increased use of the Internet, Desler said.

The Internet blurred the lines between public and private information. Bloggers, who maintain public online journals, were fired from companies, such as Delta Airlines and Friendster, for posting information about their employers or exposing company secrets.

Although some view Internet postings as different from printed media, Volokh said, the law draws no distinction.

“The law focuses on the message, not the medium,” Volokh said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in a leaflet, a book or the Internet.”

Other private universities are struggling with the same questions as NU regarding online regulation.

Stanford University doesn’t check students’ e-mail. But if someone sends a libelous mass e-mail, the legal office can get involved, said Bill Clebsch, the executive director of Information Technology services at Stanford.

Many Medill students were confronted in March for creating groups on thefacebook.com which ridiculed freshman journalism classes and Medill Prof. Jon Ziomek. The facebook groups included “I was raped by My Medill Midterm” and “The Alliance for Unethical Journalism.”

Weldon sent out a mass email to her Editing and Writing the News class discussing the negative consequences of the forums.

Chris Hughes, a spokesman for thefacebook.com, said in an e-mail that there have been complaints from professors at other universities, too.

“Just like in ‘real’ life, there is a potential for students to be offensive on thefacebook,” Hughes wrote in the e-mail. “We have had a few scattered complaints from professors, but nothing as well-publicized as this professor’s problems.

“It seems that this professor’s central problems are a lack of respect for the traditional ethics of journalism, the use of harsh language in everyday speech, and the academic program at Medill,” Hughes added. “These are all very legitimate concerns, but she seems to be targeting group membership on thefacebook rather than the issues themselves.”

After students responded to the e-mail, Medill organized a forum on ethical and legal implications of Internet forums. This forum left people wondering if the administration has the ability to police a student-run Web site.

Weinberg sophomore Josiah Jenkins, the creator of thefacebook.com group “Medill Professors Should Get the Sticks Out of Their Asses — That Means You Weldon,” said Weldon’s offended response was unwarranted.

“It’s a matter of principle that a school of journalism should be fostering free speech,” Jenkins said, who wrote a letter to The Daily about the issue.

But there are some instances where NU should react, he said.

“If there a case of threat where violence is real we should look at taking action,” Jenkins said.

Students question what parts of public online forums NU administrators should regulate.

Fabio Ortega, a Communication senior, said that he can understand why the university wants to regulate policy, but isn’t sure how the Internet affects the real world.

“The university doesn’t want the school to make a bad name for themselves,” Ortega said. “(But) there’s a difference between physical space and cyberspace.”

Weinberg freshman Ami Patel said she doesn’t think the administration should only be able to regulate its own server.

“With facebook, they own that domain and region. The school can’t mandate what we say,” Patel said. “If there’s hate speech on Facebook, that should be condemned, but it’s still free speech.”

Reach Diana Scholl at [email protected].