Social Media Community Guidelines for Audience Members
Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) uses social media to support the college’s mission, goals and overall communication strategy, and to provide students, staff, alumni, and friends with college information and the opportunity to communicate interactively. We expect that when engaging on Bethany Lutheran College social media groups and pages, community members adhere to the following guidelines:
- Respect One Another – Civil discourse should be maintained at all times on pages and in groups affiliated with the College. Bethany will not tolerate hate speech, bullying, name-calling or profanity on our pages or groups. Comments and posts with abusive, sexist, racist, or otherwise offensive content will be flagged and deleted, and the individual who posted will be immediately and permanently blocked from the page or group. Any comments threatening or attacking a member of our community, especially a student, will be flagged and deleted, and the individual who posted will be immediately and permanently blocked from the page or group. Threatening posts will be elevated to the appropriate authorities.
- Do Not Make Comments on Unrelated Posts – We welcome engagement, but combative or threatening comments, or comments considered spam will be deleted. We withhold the right to delete comments made on unrelated posts.
- Respect Confidentiality – Do not share private financial, medical or personal information about any individual in your posts or comments, regardless of whether you are sharing in a closed group or a public page. All content shared on College channels, including visitor content, must adhere to College, state, federal and NCAA privacy laws and policies, and FERPA and HIPAA.
- Stop the Spread of Misinformation – Before you share a comment or post, fact check, and make sure that the content and the source are accurate. Bethany Lutheran College will not tolerate inaccurate representation of facts. If you are using the words of others in your post, make this clear, and credit all creative and intellectual property you are sharing appropriately. Finally, remember anything you post can resurface in the future.
Failure to Comply
Bethany Lutheran College social media pages and groups are moderated to ensure truthfulness and a sense of community. Failure to comply with our community guidelines may result in a warning and/or your comments being deleted or hidden, followed by a block or ban from the page or group in question. More serious offenses may result in an immediate ban. While every effort will be made to prioritize transparency, Bethany Lutheran College reserves the right to make decisions to restrict access to College pages and groups as deemed necessary.
Questions
Questions or concerns regarding these guidelines should be emailed to publicrelations@blc.edu.