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[tortugaphd]

My department is in the middle of campus visits for a search.  The first candidate just came, and we have 2 more coming in next week.

After the candidate's interview was over, a colleague posted what I'm sure she thought was an innocuous message on her facebook page about being inspired by a job candidate's teaching demonstration.  This colleague is the type who has something like 1,500 friends, so many people out there will have seen her message.  Among those many, some will know the identity of the person who interviewed.

I'm uncomfortable about department members making these types of comments about job candidates in a semi-public forum, especially since 2 more candidates are yet to come, but I don't know how to bring it up.  Also, it may be that her comments are actually innocuous, and I'm overreacting.  What do you think?

[toothpaste]

I think maybe it depends on whether she identified the person by name AND as a candidate for a job. If it was just one or the other, maybe it's not a problem.

[tuxedo_cat]

An academic on fb who has 1,500 (?? honestly?) friends probably has a very, um, open sense of boundaries.  This posting was completely inappropriate and unprofessional, no matter how nice and supposedly anonymous the comments were.

If you're untenured and don't want to make waves with any of your colleagues, I would have a confidential conversation with the SCC (assuming you two are on good terms), mentioning that someone in the department has posted some comments on fb about one of the job candidates.  I would say something like, "I'd rather not provide specifics about which member of the dept. it was, but I was wondering if it might be a good idea to have a departmental policy of not commenting on any of our candidates on any social networking sites, even if the comments are supportive and positive."

I would do that in person and not over email.  The other option is just to leave it alone.

[glowdart]

I like tuxedo_cat's approach. 

Based on discussions with campus lawyers about social media usage by faculty & staff members, I would guess that this would fall under "dumb and unprofessional but not actionable right now, but is indicative of a disregard for professionalism that is troublesome and might result in future behavior that is actionable and/or that might endanger the institution." 

[sixer3]

This is exactly why I have never accepted a friend request from a colleague of mine.  If her comments bother you so much, just unfriend her.

[tuxedo_cat]

This is exactly why I have never accepted a friend request from a colleague of mine.  If her comments bother you so much, just unfriend her.

Are you a faculty member?  or a student?

[seniorscholar]

Those in my department who chair search committees have been socialized by the first meeting of the first search committee on which we served, especially since the act has been repeated since before anyone still in the department can remember: at the first meeting, the department chair impresses us seriously that search committees (like promotion and tenure committees) do not leak information to colleagues, friends, or neighbors; and for the last dozen or fifteen years, this instruction has included, nor do they discuss committee business by [forwardable] e-mail with anyone, on the committee or not. You'd have to be pretty dumb to think "oh, Facebook wasn't mentioned so I think that's ok."

[msparticularity]

Tortugaphd, I'm not clear about what kind of comment it was. If it was something along the lines of, "Wow--saw a really great teaching demo today, including use of XX and YY to get the students engaged. Very inspiring!" then I think it was probably okay, even if other members of the department would be able to recognize the exact situation.

If, OTOH, it was more specific, and included information that someone not involved in the search could use to identify the candidate, then I would think it's a bigger issue.

[sixer3]

This is exactly why I have never accepted a friend request from a colleague of mine.  If her comments bother you so much, just unfriend her.

Are you a faculty member?  or a student?

I am a professor, and I only use Facebook for friends and family.   I get requests from stuents/faculty and when I see them in person, I tell them in person the same thing. 

[wet_blanket]

You don't know which of Colleague's 1,500 friends saw the comment.  Someone with that many FB friends is probably on top of the "lists" thing, and may have been very selective with who could see the post. 

[minimimi]

Like seniorscholar, I'm at a large public university. In my state, a representative from HR lectures us before any search committee begins its work. Committees are may not share any information about applicants or candidates, but tortuga's indiscreet colleague seems not to be on the SC, just a faculty member who sat in on a teaching demonstration. I imagine grad students were there, too, and they tend to be Friendlier than most faculty. I'd take tuxedo_cat's approach and have the SC chair instruct the department about confidentiality.

From the description, the posting was "innocuous," which usually means unspecific. However, with 1500 "friends," it's possible some of them are or would know the other finalists applicants, and the posting would constitute a sort of wiki rejection. At the same time, a vanity Google of myself a few years turned up job talks. You never know which institutions make those sorts of things that public.

[lottie]

Job talks and teaching demos are public events here, and as such not confidential. Who cares if there's an innocuous post FB?

[voxprincipalis]

This is exactly why I have never accepted a friend request from a colleague of mine.  If her comments bother you so much, just unfriend her.

Are you a faculty member?  or a student?

I am a professor, and I only use Facebook for friends and family.   I get requests from stuents/faculty and when I see them in person, I tell them in person the same thing. 

Wait wait wait. Are you saying there are some things in your life that are personal and that you choose not to share with students? What if you are missing the opportunity to create those meaningful, outside-the-classroom learning experiences? Surely you have time -- even if only a few minutes a day -- to post to students' Facebook pages. For example, you could tell them about the dangers of alcohol.

I guess you just don't really care about your students. That's too bad.

/sarcasm

VP

[larryc]

I think the OP's colleague behaved unprofessionally, but also that if there was no identifying information, it is not grossly unprofessional. I'd let it go, but if you feel it necessary to say something use Tuxedo Cat's excellent formulation.

Another thought--your colleagues 1500 FB surely include other members of the SC, and perhaps the dean and other administrators as well? If none of them are saying anything, another reason to let it go.

[tortugaphd]

In response to previous questions, there was no name mentioned in the posting, just a comment about seeing a job candidate's teaching demo.  Also, this colleague is not on the search committee.

Tuxedo_cat makes a good point.  The search committee chair is also facebook friends with this colleague and so most likely saw the posting directly.  If there was any discussion that needed to happen, it probably happened on its own already.