Social media sites like Facebook have been amid more than one free speech controversy in recent years. A community college student is at the center of this latest clash after posting scathing remarks about a certain school policy directly on the school’s Facebook page. So where does free speech end and the rules of proper conduct begin? If one examines this particular case, he or she will quickly discover that the lines are still fairly muddy in this relatively new area of First Amendment rights.
About the Facebook Poster
Marc Bechtol is a 37-year-old marketing student at Catawba Valley Community College in North Carolina. According to NBC-2, Bechtol’s disgruntled attitude arose after he learned that his college would offer a debit card that doubled as a student identification card on campus. Bechtol alerted the school that he did not want the card and didn’t want his personal information, such as his social security number, shared with financial entities outside the college. Bechtol said Catawba Valley agreed to his request.
And the Controversy Begins
However, it wasn’t long before Bechtol received the school debit card in the mail and discovered that the financial company issuing the cards, Higher One Financial Services, had access to his personal information, including his social security number. After the initial debit card was issued, Bechtol also began receiving email offers for credit cards from other banks. In addition, Bechtol began receiving additional email marketing from Higher One, offering additional benefits