My Kinky Alma Mater
Here are two different takes on the recent Northwestern University sex scandal, one by my former teacher, Joseph Epstein, and one by my former student, Miranda Viglietti.
Miranda writes:
Internet identity can create a new complication for reporters in search of sources.
Take the recent sex toy scandal at Northwestern University for example. While most NU students would probably agree that the entire controversy was overblown, some of the students who witnessed the sex toy demonstration felt reluctant to comment to news organizations, regardless of whether reporters worked for campus media or CNN. These students kept their silence mainly because they didn’t want their names to be associated with a sex toy controversy on the Internet. Since employers can easily enter the names of potential employees into Internet search engines, it might not come off well for a job seeker to pop up in a story about a sex toy. One student told me that she feared a future boss might think she was a sexual pervert and not hire her if she offered a comment in defense of the NU course’s professor.
Something similar to this happened to me. My godfather happened to Google my name one day and noticed that it popped up on a bunch of pro-marijuana websites. After my godfather began cracking jokes and teasing me, I explained to him that the only reason my name appeared on these websites was because they picked up a story I’d written. (Last spring The Daily Northwestern assigned me to cover a speaker who lectured on the reasons why marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.) The story had nothing to do with my personal views on marijuana, but search engines now link me with marijuana supporters.
While these pro-marijuana associations have gotten buried until the six, seventh and eighth pages of my Google identity as I’ve written other stories, non-journalists typically don’t have a large cushion of stories to hide under. This can make sources reluctant to voice their opinions and make ordinary people more conscious of their public image. Internet identities also give reporters something new to consider when they try to minimize harm in accordance with journalism ethics.
Quite frankly, this post’s subject matter definitely will not improve my Google id.
And here is Epstein’s hilarious and smart take.
As for me, I must be getting old, because my first reaction was this: I’d be pretty damn ticked if one of my kids wasted time and money taking a bullshit class like this from a bozo professor like that.
