Del Mar College Bans MySpace
Well, Del Mar College in Texas has banned students from using the mega-community MySpace on the college’s computer network. Unlike high schools and grad schools around the country, who have banned MySpace to protect students from predators (and to protect the school districts’ liability), Del Mar has banned MySpace because its use is eating up 40% of the school’s bandwidth.
MySpace has become a major vehicle for mobilizing activists. PETA uses it to launch new campaigns and MySpace was used extensively to organize the weeks of massive immigration reform demonstrations we have seen over the past month.
While Del Mar College’s need to free bandwidth for its web-teaching programs, the move does raise questions about the role of social networking communities to the college experience. And what will happen at Del Mar if everyone denied access to MySpace moves to FaceBook, Care2, or another online community to fill the voide created by the MySpace ban. Will the college ban those communities, too?
We know that the law limits free speech, to some extent on campuses, but is Del Mar going too far? Can it rightfully and effectively stick its finger in this dyke?