The case of two students from Monroe Twp. whose disparaging comments on the social networking site Facebook led to their dismissal from the school basketball team may be headed to court, the Gloucester County Times reported Thursday. Tina Porter and Dhrupa Rathod, both seniors at Williamstown High School, allegedly had a conversation via Facebook in which one of the girls "admittedly used expletives directed at the [athletics] program and personnel while the other used a representation of a common curse, saying 'eff practice.'" The conversation also highlighted the girls' goofing off at practice, the Times reported.
An anonymous source forwarded the comments to administrators, who kicked Porter and Rathod off the team immediately.
"We're getting a lawyer," said Dawn Porter, mother of Tina Porter, according to NJ.com. Porter's mother also suggested the basketball coach made negative comments about her daughter's weight around the time of the Facebook incident.
The girls apologized for their words but maintain they said nothing directly to their coach and their online comments shouldn't affect their school lives. However, District Superintendent Charles Earling said, "Disrespect is very serious. Specifically this was directed towards a coach. Inappropriate language and inappropriate behavior. When you start doing this online, this goes out on the World Wide Web," CBS3.com reported.
Although there is no clear-cut legal ruling on student speech online, the girls' remarks were made off-campus and did not substantially disrupt school activities, so I believe the speech is protected. On the other hand, I think it's safe to assume the girls should face some discpline for their negative comments and there is probably a student code of conduct with rules regarding their behavior. Furthermore, the girls' view that their Facebook profiles are private is misguided; anyone can access and republish information on social networking profiles instantly.
For example: "OMG, we're out of control at practice nowadays," reads Porter's Facebook page, according to CBS3.com. The comments about the coach are not available for review, however.
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