A university’s attempts to regulate staff and students’ use of social media may put it on a collision course with the English sector regulator’s new free speech rules, it has been warned.
The University of Leeds has introduced a social media policy that instructs those connected to the institution not to “post or share content (including photos, images, videos or soundtracks) which is unlawful, abusive, insulting, threatening, or which may reasonably be considered likely to cause serious distress or cause another person to fear for their safety, or which defames or unfairly disparages the university, staff/students or any third party on social media sites”.
Social media, which in Leeds’ definition includes discussion forums, instant messaging services and “any website that allows public commenting or posting”, should not be used “in a way which does not support our university values of collaboration, compassion, inclusiveness and integrity”, the policy adds.
But these restrictions are too open to interpretation, critics have claimed. “It talks about unfairly disparaging the university, but fair or unfair is a matter of opinion”, said Aisha Walker, president of the University and College Union (UCU) branch at Leeds.
