Would you ‘friend’ your professor?

Sophomore Ben Watson sits in the Indiana Memorial Union with his laptop computer resting on his knees. He is checking his Facebook home page, a daily routine for most IU students.

As the Facebook world expands, IU students are not the only ones listed as one’s “friends.” What was started in 2004 as a Web site for students has expanded into a worldwide network for all age groups. More professors are creating their own accounts, including those at IU.

“I don’t think I would ever friend them,” Watson said. “There is a different boundary between professors and students. It is personal stuff between me and my friends. My mom has one and I don’t even friend her.”

Although many professors have a Facebook account, they do not go out of their way to find their students.

With the growing number of faculty on Facebook, some students are more conscious of what they make visible on their profile pages.

“I untag my photos because teachers may see them,” graduate student Lisa Cantrell said. “My rule is if I don’t want my mother to see it, than I shouldn’t have it up there.”

Thanks to tagged photos, students who are “friends” with a teacher may not want to fib about the reason they were late or did not come to class that day.

Timothy Rich, a graduate student with a Ph.D. in political science, said a benefit to being friends with students is “if a student lies, you can see it on their profile.”

Although this is a way to see their faults, Rich said he does not use Facebook to catch students. His account is for his own personal life. Although if a student “friends” him, he will most likely accept.

“I would say less than 5 percent of my students even bother to friend me,” Rich said. “Students graduating will send me messages about graduate school.”

After graduation, it is common for students to “friend” previous professors.

Stephanie Fenstermaker is an IU student who is now friends with her professors from her undergraduate years. Fenstermaker does not friend students here at IU, although she knows of teachers who do, and by doing so they are able to easily contact their students.

“Students will check their Facebook before their e-mail,” Fenstermaker said.   

IU has the resources available so professors can contact students via Internet.

Therefore, Carlos Colon, a visiting lecturer at the IU Kelley School of Business, said he uses Facebook solely for his own personal life.

“I don’t really need Facebook with my students since we have Oncourse, which even has a chat room,” Colon said.