"I think 'policing Facebook' is taking an institution into uncharted territory" Joseph Howard, assistant director of residence life at Mercyhurst College

Ever been sitting in your dorm room late at night wondering what chapters you needed to read for tomorrows class? How about needing that picture from your group project to put on the title page of your final group report? Social network sites and picture sharing sites have come to the rescue of the students of today's generation. Social network sites such as facebook and myspace allow students to find easy contact with their peers. These sites enable the student to search for old friends, make new friends and to find people in their classes. I used myspace to find my roommate before my freshman year so that we could contact each other, since the phone number i was given for him was incorrect. By using some of the features properly, a student (and student athletes) can benefit greatly from these such sites. Accessing a friends site allows you to view information about them, such as screen name, email, phone numbers and sometimes even an address. Ohio States University's newspaper, The Lantern applauds OSU for not issuing a ban. Online networking communities like Facebook and myspace have become a part of the college lifestyle alongside beer and cold pizza. While their posted contents can be damaging to both individual students and the university, banning student’s athletes implies student athletes are not responsible enough to manage his or her online profile.