All of those pictures posted on Facebook of beer pong tournaments that you thought were harmless could get you in trouble with Campus Life. Colleges check up on students’ non-scholastic activities using Facebook.com, a popular social networking Web site created by Harvard students in 2004.

“Student can be charged judicially if their comments or pictures violate Guilford’s code of conduct,” said Alyson Kienle, Associate Dean for Campus Life. “It doesn’t really matter whether the photos were taken on or off campus.”

Chris Hughes, spokesperson for Facebook, said that hundreds of professors and deans across the country have added their own profiles to the site. This does not exclude staff at Guilford. Aaron Fetrow, Dean for Campus Life; Randy Doss, Vice President for Enrollment and Campus Life; and Watts Dixon, Landscape Project Supervisor, are among staff at Guilford who have Facebook accounts.

Dixon said that he signed up for no particular reason. “Sometimes I surf Facebook and look at the photos, but I never think about how old the students are.”

“I did sign up so that I could investigate students when there are complaints against them relating to Facebook,” Kienle said. However, she said that there isn’t someone in Campus Life who is surfing the Web site hoping to bust students.

Jonathon Vogt, junior, created a Facebook group entitled “Are You A Little Creeped Out By Campus Life Being On Facebook?.Yeah, Me Too” and cited www.aclu.org (American Civil Liberties Union – an organization dedicated to preserving rights of American citizens) as the group’s official website.

“I wanted to raise awareness so kids wouldn’t get themselves in trouble by posting incriminating photographs online,” Vogt said.

“The fifth Amendment states, ‘No person . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.’ I think it is pretty clear that kids are incriminating themselves on Facebook,” Vogt said. “While I respect [Campus Life] and the job they have to do, I don’t think they should be using Facebook as a tool for their investigations.”

With Campus Life on Facebook, many students, including Vogt, feel that it is inevitable that if illicit photographs are posted, or if there is a party promoted on the site at which underage drinking would occur, that faculty and Public Safety would find out about it.

Some students feel they should have been warned about Campus Life’s involvement. “If Campus Life wants to continue to use Facebook to support judicial charges, they need to issue a statement or revise the handbook so students know what they are getting into,” Vogt said.

Colleges across the country are tracking Facebook, and other social networking Web sites, in order to charge students judicially.

In October 2005, Pennsylvania State University’s campus police used Facebook to identify students who participated in an on-campus riot when swarms of students ran onto the football field after their team scored a victory.

Campus police were overwhelmed and had difficulty identifying the rioters until they were tipped off about a Facebook group named “I Rushed the Field After the OSU Game (And Lived!)”

In January 2006 in Stoughton, Mass., police used MySpace.com to track, identify, and arrest three teenagers, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter. The teens were charged with 28 counts of tagging property and malicious damage, and were fined $78,000.

The suspects’ names were not listed on the site, but the officers were able to identify them by investigating a group named “Graffiti Artists.”

At North Carolina State University, R.A.s reported 15 students seen consuming alcohol in posted photographs on Facebook in Fall 2005.

Campus officials aren’t the only authorities using online sources to probe for miscreants. According to The New York Times, a student at the University of Oklahoma found himself being investigated by the Secret Service for posting a comment about assassinating U.S President George W. Bush.

When asked if Guilford would ever use websites such as Facebook to bring charges against students, Kienle said, “Never say never.”

Kienle advised students to be mindful of what they put on the Internet. Facebook is a public forum, and if students post their dorm room or phone numbers, anyone may see it. The same rule applies for posts and pictures.

Students shouldn’t assume that no one is looking besides their friends. According to Nielson/Net Ratings, Facebook is the ninth most-visited Web site on the Internet and is used by nearly five million college students.

Hughes said in an email, “Nearly three-fourths of Facebook users sign in at least once every 24 hours, and the average users sign in six times a day.”

Hughes pointed out that Facebook members can change privacy settings so that only other students, or confirmed friends, can see their profiles.