A social media policy enacted by the Kansas Board of Regents last year raised considerable concern among Kansas University employees who feared the policy would infringe on academic freedom and perhaps be unevenly and unfairly enforced.

It was up to each state university to formulate specific procedures to enforce the policy that would allow the schools to discipline or fire employees who post several types of social media messages, including those that incite “imminent violence” or “are contrary to the best interests of the employer.”

The language of the regents policy struck many employees as overly broad. Hopefully, the enforcement process that has been put in place at KU will ease some employee concerns while also satisfying the regents’ goals.

The first step in the process is a review by a three-member panel to determine whether there are “reasonable grounds” to believe an employee has violated the policy. That panel will be made up of one person designated by the provost and two designated by the University Senate Executive Committee, one at the same classification level as the employee being investigated.

If the complaint moves forward, it will be considered by a five-member review board — two members appointed by the provost and three by University Senate, one of whom must be a law school faculty member. That board will determine whether any disciplinary action is justified.

The procedures adopted by KU seem to ensure that only the most egregious misuses of social media would result in disciplinary action. It’s also good that KU faculty/employees make up a majority of both groups that will review potential employee violations.

Many employees probably still are concerned about and insulted by this policy, but it seems that KU has done what it could to satisfy the regents policy while also protecting employees from arbitrary actions related to social media.

Hopefully the procedure will be used fairly and rarely.