Spring Break
the FAKEbook?
by Abra Lyons-Warren
Managing Editor
Features | 5/24/05
Posted online at 11:05 PM EST on 5/22/05
Although Bennett has 66 friends at Brandeis, she said she does not go to the site more than once or twice a month and finds the whole experience "a little bit weird."
"What I like is that there are actually people that are not at Brandeis that have found me," she said. "I have gotten things from 4 alumnae and a former colleague who's now someplace else from 10 years ago. So that was intriguing when those came up."
Professors who are on thefacebook by choice have found practical applications for the site. Prof. Don Katz (PSYCH) joined thefacebook because he said he is bad with names and while WebCT gives a printout of his students' ID photos, the site allows him to match names with faces of students not in his classes.
Prof. Govind Sreenivasan (HIST) joined for that perk, but also out of interest when he heard his students talking. Sreenivasan and Katz are in the minority, however.
"I'm fairly confident that 95 percent of the faculty have no idea that thefacebook exists," Katz said.
The other real Brandeis professor profiles on thefacebook exist because the faculty wanted to avoid people misusing their identity.
"The main reason I decided to appropriate my own profile was to avoid the appearance of an ersatz one," Kelikian said. "A few I saw were rather naughty."
Men's Basketball Coach Brian Meehan learned that a profile of him existed when contacted for this article. After approaching one person, he was able to find out who authored the fake page and said he will be having a "conversation" with the responsible party.
"I have strong feelings about anything that is produced without a person's knowledge," Meehan said. "Whether it's funny or not or meant to be a joke, I don't like anything that provides information that might be taken seriously."
The profile on thefacebook bearing his name has since been changed, but had contained a quote with explicit language, along with other somewhat crude suggestions, like what Meehan was looking for in a relationship. While Meehan thought his profile was "very tame," and said he was not offended by what was clearly a joke, he does not like that it is misleading.
"What I like is that there are actually people that are not at Brandeis that have found me," she said. "I have gotten things from 4 alumnae and a former colleague who's now someplace else from 10 years ago. So that was intriguing when those came up."
Professors who are on thefacebook by choice have found practical applications for the site. Prof. Don Katz (PSYCH) joined thefacebook because he said he is bad with names and while WebCT gives a printout of his students' ID photos, the site allows him to match names with faces of students not in his classes.
Prof. Govind Sreenivasan (HIST) joined for that perk, but also out of interest when he heard his students talking. Sreenivasan and Katz are in the minority, however.
"I'm fairly confident that 95 percent of the faculty have no idea that thefacebook exists," Katz said.
The other real Brandeis professor profiles on thefacebook exist because the faculty wanted to avoid people misusing their identity.
"The main reason I decided to appropriate my own profile was to avoid the appearance of an ersatz one," Kelikian said. "A few I saw were rather naughty."
Men's Basketball Coach Brian Meehan learned that a profile of him existed when contacted for this article. After approaching one person, he was able to find out who authored the fake page and said he will be having a "conversation" with the responsible party.
"I have strong feelings about anything that is produced without a person's knowledge," Meehan said. "Whether it's funny or not or meant to be a joke, I don't like anything that provides information that might be taken seriously."
The profile on thefacebook bearing his name has since been changed, but had contained a quote with explicit language, along with other somewhat crude suggestions, like what Meehan was looking for in a relationship. While Meehan thought his profile was "very tame," and said he was not offended by what was clearly a joke, he does not like that it is misleading.
