The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and expression, but where should the line be drawn between freedom of speech and vulgar speech? The Facebook page “SDSU Confessions” recently reached more than 5,000 likes. The page compiles anonymous confessions from San Diego
State students.

Business finance junior Michael Smith said the page gives the school a terrible reputation.

“Clearly the school wants to get rid of this party school mentality and the small segment of students who voice their ‘confessions’ on this page are just upholding this mentality of ‘Come to SDSU, party, get laid and that’s it,’”
Smith said.

Posts on “SDSU Confessions” include students seeking advice, for example, “gotta pass a drug test. Tips?” and other
drunken debaucheries.

Other confessions share embarrassing mishaps, such as one post that read, “Just got in a car accident for reading these posts
while driving.”

While it is difficult to confirm these posts involve SDSU students, the website is still representative of college behavior.

Kinesiology junior Amy Reason discovered someone had posted a confession about her.  She learned about the confession after her friends tagged her in the
comments section.

“I knew the post was about me because it described exactly what I was wearing to an event that night,” Reason said.

Reason shared her opinion about the low standards of
the page.

“Originally, it was a good way for people to get things off their chest without having to be judged on what they say,” said Reason. “But now that it has turned into a bunch of people just bashing others or looking for someone to hook up with or complain about their love life and life in general, I feel like it has gone too far.”

On Feb. 14, the “SDSU Confessions” administrators announced new policies regarding the Facebook page.

“So for negative posts we will only show the first initial of the first name.  For positive we will show the first name and only the initial of the last name … But if it’s not inherently negative, then we will need five complaints to take the
post down.”

Although it may be entertaining to explore the Facebook page, every confession contributes to the negative impact “SDSU Confessions” will continue to have on
SDSU’s reputation.

Television, film and new media production junior Julianne Carew said the page should be
taken down.

“These ‘confessions’ feed into all of the stereotypes SDSU and the majority of SDSU students want to eliminate.  I don’t want potential future employers to see the Facebook page and associate me with it since I have absolutely nothing to do with it and want to avoid it at all costs,” Carew said.

The administrators of “SDSU Confessions” said, “We are not promoting bullying.  In the beginning, there were a lot of negative posts directly insulting or ‘bullying’ the person.”

In order to alleviate the negative feedback on “SDSU Confessions” the page administrators “discovered that not all posts should be posted” and are more selctive about what they publicize.

Although it’s reassuring the administrators behind “SDSU Confessions” filter some of the confessions received, the site still reinforces negative SDSU stereotypes. What effect will “SDSU Confessions” have on prospective applicants, parents, SDSU employees and the current students who do not want to be associated with the
Facebook page?

Because the Facebook page is a public forum, there is no method of verifying whether these confessions are even from actual SDSU students. And because “liking” a page shows up on a Facebook user’s newsfeed, friends have access to that page allowing them to pretend they go to SDSU.

Other four-year universities have a similar Facebook page. For example, the University of Southern California has a Facebook page called, “USC Compliments.”  The purpose of this online platform is for students to anonymously submit compliments about their peers.  This Facebook page is a paragon of how a “confessions” page can be a friendly environment. The “USC Compliments” exemplifies the optimism that SDSU should strive for.

The “SDSU Confessions” Facebook page encourages drama, narcissism and immaturity among students who continue to post their confessions along with the others who continue to read them.  The founders of the page have received complaints regarding negative posts and victims of the negative posts feel the site administrators are not taking enough action to halt the hate posted online.  The “SDSU Confessions” Facebook page supports the stigma that Generation Y is using social media for all the wrong reasons.