Facebook Meets Administrative Policy AD08

Well, that didn't take long. Here I was setting up a space to teach in Facebook when reporters caught wind of my plans. I don't usually...ok, I never talk to reporters cause whatever gets printed always comes back to haunt. But these were student reporters. They're different...happy to help them learn their trade.

The story broke this morning. And the email starting flowing soon after.

I was told, "Penn State policy AD 08 prohibits use of online services which may be displaying ads. http://guru.psu.edu/policies/AD08.html#F. Let's read this closely:

ADVERTISING ON UNIVERSITY ELECTRONIC MEANS OF COMMUNICATION:

Unless authorized by the Executive Director of University Relations, the placement of non-University advertisements on electronic means of communications using University facilities (i.e., Web sites), is specifically prohibited. (See also Policies FN14, AD20, and AD27.)

I sorta forgot University of Phoenix blasts Facebook with ads. Mostly cause I figured, "who the hell cares about University of Phoenix when they're already enrolled at Penn State?" Truth told, U. Phoenix seems to be a great online program, but their tailgates got nothing on Penn State's (maybe they sit around in Second Life having wild keg parties?).

The big thing for me was seeing how it felt for me and students to have instant access over cell phones (Facebook Mobile). Mobile RSS...just seemed like a neat thing to experiment with, see how students responded to the integration of school and social life. We'll cut the experiment if it violates university policy. After all, rules are made to be broken, but I also got to pick my battles.

So the Facebook experiment is over before it began. Thought it'd be fun, but "P.S.U." ain't spelled "F.U.N."