Don't feed the trolls: Highlights from colleges' social media policies for athletes

Jon Hale
Courier Journal
UK baksetball player Wenyen Gabriel took a selfie photo with members of the Starkey Foundation Hearing Mission. The foundation provided approximately one hundred hearing aids to those in need at Whitaker Bank Ballpark, in Lexington. Aug. 28, 2016.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With the backdrop of the Kentucky football team’s ever-present social media-generated storylines this season, Courier Journal set out to gain a better understanding of how college athletics programs educate their athletes about social media and police their behavior on it.

With help from our USA TODAY Network partners, Courier Journal filed open records requests with Kentucky, Louisville and each of the Southeastern Conference public universities for any social media policy or guidelines provided to student-athletes and athletics team coaches as well as any available data about the number and type of punishments from any violations of that policy in the 2016-17 school year.

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All but two of the universities (Alabama and Auburn) have responded to our requests made in August. Each of the schools that responded said there was no available data about type or number of punishments for violations of a social media policy.

Of the schools surveyed, only Georgia said it had no documents responsive to the request. The documents provided by the other schools ranged from department-wide policies in student-athlete handbooks to consent forms signed by athletes each year to specific team rules about social media activity.

Here is a rundown of some of the more interesting discoveries.

► The Tennessee football guidelines included an entertaining discussion of avoiding negativity on social media. “The people posting negative things to get you riled up are haters,” according to the document. “They are sitting in their underwear in their mom’s basement loving the fact they are getting attention.” The Tennessee baseball team guidelines also warned players not to “feed the trolls” and to “rise above those who feed on negativity.”

► Defining what exactly constitutes a questionable social media post was not easy for many of the athletics departments and teams. Several referred players to refrain from posting anything they would be embarrassed for their parents or grandparents to see or to be published in a newspaper or posted on a billboard. The Tennessee baseball team guidelines added pastors to that list, informing athletes if they were not comfortable sharing something with members of the clergy they should not post it online before noting things athletes would share in confession don’t count as permissible social media posts.

► Each Kentucky athlete was asked to provide handles for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat accounts and sign a document agreeing to adhere to the policy. Among the rules laid out in the document is “zero tolerance for athletes who speak negatively about their university.” Most of the other schools responded with documents banning posts that portrayed individual teams, athletics departments or universities in a negative way.

► Louisville provided its student-athlete handbook, which includes general guidelines about social media use and specific rules for the baseball, men’s basketball, men’s golf, lacrosse, field hockey, football, women’s golf, women’s soccer, softball, women’s rowing and swimming and diving teams. The student handbook included suggestions for making secure passwords for social media accounts and a warning about media possibly using information posted on social media to “project student-athletes in a negative light.”

► According to team rules (set before the coaching change in October), members of the Louisville men’s basketball team are allowed to have social media accounts but “no tweeting will be allowed at any time.” Men’s basketball players are allowed to post on other social media platforms, including Instagram.

► The only other university surveyed that included a specific social media ban was South Carolina, where the women’s basketball program prohibits players from using any form of social media from Aug. 24, 2017, until after the last game of the season.

► Almost every school and individual team warned against posting photos of drugs or alcohol on social media, but the Louisville lacrosse team (under the rules of its former coaching staff), Texas A&M equestrian team and Tennessee baseball teams went a step further to note athletes could not post pictures of “red cups” or “Solo cups” traditionally associated with drinking at college parties. The Texas A&M volleyball team rules also prohibit athletes from posting pictures with “passed-out people present.”

► Several teams, including the Louisville football program, specifically note athletes cannot post any team-related information on social media. The Louisville football team rules prohibit athletes from posting information about injuries, game plan, practice plan, comments about the opponent, lineups and position changes and every day internal team activities on the Internet. The Texas A&M baseball team rules warned "if something is posted on social media pertaining to the team, we will do something about it." The Tennessee rowing team rules noted sharing an individual's injury or illness would help opponents.

► The Arkansas athletic department’s social media guidelines included specific warnings that athletes cannot post any information that is “proprietary to the athletic department” including tentative or future schedules or travel plans and itineraries. The guidelines noted athletes are “responsible for knowing the department’s confidential and proprietary information policy.”

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► Refraining from posting negative comments about opponents was a frequent theme in the documents provided. South Carolina equestrian team members were specifically told to avoid “trash talk when we are approaching a competition” in team rules.

► Like UK, which prohibits athletes from social media posts with “sexual references of any kind,” almost every team rule sheet or department social media policy included a line about sexual content. Many warned against posting “compromising photos,” but among the most direct were the Mississippi State softball team rules, which used the message “I like having sex” as an example of a bad post, and the Texas A&M equestrian team rules, which included pictures or discussions of fornication in its prohibited social media posts.

► While none of the schools had records about how many athletes had actually been punished for violating social media policies, many of the documents provided outlined a wide range of possible punishments. The Mississippi State baseball team rules noted social media privileges could be revoked for violations. Negative posts about Mississippi State by men’s tennis athletes are considered a “second degree offense” according to team rules with possible punishments including loss of scholarship or dismissal from the team. The Ole Miss department social media policy outlined possible punishments including “education, discipline, counseling, suspension and/or expulsion from the team and reduction, cancellation or nonrenewal of athletics financial aid.”

► Arkansas’ guidelines noted athletes are “personally liable for any copyright violations committed” for posting photographs, audio or video not belonging to the athlete. Those copyright violations could also include “using the trademarks of the University of Arkansas,” according to the documents provided.

► Among the programs that provided suggestions on how to not only avoid rules violations on social media but also use the services to their benefit were the Texas A&M women’s basketball team and the Tennessee football and baseball teams. Texas A&M women’s basketball players were provided with several case studies of social media used well and were encouraged to develop their own personal brand while also representing the team’s brand. Tennessee football players were encouraged to engage in discussions with “those you admire” because social media provides an opportunity to do so that was not available until recently. “Learn what they’re talking about and even interact with them,” the team guidelines suggest. Tennessee baseball players were told to show personality and sense of humor.

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► Many of the departments and teams went out of their way to voice support for free speech rights in the documents provided, avoiding any mention of political posts. Tennessee baseball players were encouraged to "steer clear of politics or other controversial issues" in their social media guidelines though.

Jon Hale: jahale@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @JonHale_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jonh.