Is the message the problem or is it the medium?

Kansas University employees are complaining that a new social media policy is hampering their right to express their opinions about how KU officials are handling sexual assault reports and investigations. The policy adopted by the Kansas Board of Regents allows a range of disciplinary action, including dismissal, for any university employee who uses social media in a way that “is contrary to the best interests of the employer.” KU officials still are working on procedures to enforce the policy, but employees say they are afraid to speak up about the sexual assault issue for fear of reprisal.

Ironically, the new social media policy apparently had no impact on the KU American Studies department’s decision to use traditional media to express their displeasure about the handling of sexual assault cases. A statement the department issued last week, is critical of the chancellor’s response to the sexual assault controversy as well as the university’s use of the term “non-consensual sex” instead of “rape,” which the department maintains is more accurate.

Such criticism might be considered “contrary to the best interest of the employer,” but if it is expressed in a “statement” that is picked up by news media, it apparently isn’t covered by the regents social media policy. The KU American Studies department has a Facebook page and a Twitter account, but the statement apparently wasn’t communicated through either of those media.

It will be interesting to see how KU plans to enforce the social media policy, but this situation points out a basic flaw in the regents’ misguided effort to clamp down on social media communication. Universities already had policies that could have handled situations that involved not only traditional media but also social media, but regents nonetheless singled out social media in a way that university employees believe hampers their free speech rights, as well as infringing on their academic freedom.

So, here’s a question for the Kansas Board of Regents: Is it a matter of what university employees say or what medium they use to say it?