Can colleges regulate what faculty members say online–or punish them for saying offensive things?
Many observers argue that guidelines work better than rules. Administrators sensitive to the sometimes competing issues at stake should recognize that attempts to control what scholars do online may be more damaging to a college’s reputation, and to the campus community, than isolated cases of offensive behavior. Some are finding that accentuating the positive aspects of social media is a more compelling approach than attempting to eliminate the negative.