When students open up -- a little too much

Last school year, Brandeis University junior Emily Aronoff tapped this sentiment into a computer: ''I enjoy the festive greens."

The reference to marijuana became part of her profile on facebook.com, the online student catalogue that allows Aronoff and tens of thousands of collegians to share photos and idiosyncratic odds and ends of their lives, intended for viewing by other students.

But others were reading as well -- including ''an individual in the community," she said, who shared the reference with her parents in Marietta, Ga. Eventually, word reached her grandmother.

''My bubbe," she said, using the Yiddish word for grandmother, ''told me her seniors home was abuzz with the news, and I was like: 'I hate the Facebook.' "

As the Facebook has become a phenomenon at schools across the country -- a virtual bible for campus socializing and networking -- the unintended consequences of overly comprehensive, brutally frank, or mischievous entries are surfacing.

Colleges and universities are increasingly taking steps to help students avoid pitfalls -- most critically, those that put students at risk for stalking and harassment. At Tufts University this year, freshmen-orientation leaders encouraged students to omit detailed personal information from their profiles, such as dormitory room numbers and class schedules. Boston College plans to do the same next year, and Boston University has instructed residential advisers on offering guidance on Facebook matters.

Meanwhile, Brandeis held an hour-long seminar last week on Facebook savvy -- recommending safety tips, but also telling students to consider future employers, professors, or family members who might read Facebook entries. Indeed, some Brandeis administrators said at the meeting -- to open-mouthed reactions of students attending -- that they have begun reading Facebook entries before hiring a student for campus positions.

School officials noted that they are in an odd position when it comes to the Facebook. The online site is privately operated and not officially affiliated with colleges or universities. Some administrators say they believe the site should be a student domain in which young people feel free to express themselves in language and photos that are authentic representations, and not dressed up for adult eyes.

''This is a community forum, and I don't want to goof it up," said Kenneth Elmore, dean of students at Boston University. ''I think that would put some people in a real tough spot."

And yet, administrators say they feel some obligation to ensure that students do not unintentionally step into an online minefield -- such as the rants or brusque language on blogs, personal websites, and public message boards that have led some businesses to fire or discipline employees.

''It's not appropriate for us to be policing the site," said Alwina Bennett, the associate dean of students at Brandeis. ''But we do need to educate them about how to make good choices and foresee consequences."

Entries in the Facebook, launched in February 2004 by Harvard undergraduates who started the same service for high school students this month, have propelled some students into trouble.

At the University of Mississippi, three students were contacted by campus police and later referred to the university judicial system after creating a Facebook group whose title referred to members' desire to have sex with a university professor. (Facebook policy itself bars posting ''harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable" material on the site.)

The scope of Facebook's impact may not be felt for years to come.

''I would put money on a political candidate -- probably 20 years from now -- getting in hot water on account of something posted on Facebook," said Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

While much of the salacious and outrageous material is ''bragging," Jones said, taken out of context, the material could be harmful for job prospects and other pursuits. But students say Facebook -- because it is intended for use by campus dwellers -- feels like a safe forum to hold forth.

''You don't realize how out there it is," said Justin Kadich, a Brandeis sophomore. ''You are blindly filling out fields and suddenly everyone has access to it."

Within the Harvard University profiles, for example, students have posted photos of themselves drinking. Others have created groups with less-than-resume material: ''I Steal From Annenberg," ''Hookah Union of Student Smokers . . . Yeehaw Shisha!" and ''The We Need to Have Sex in Widener Before We Graduate Interest Group."

Bieta Andemariam of Harvard posted a photograph of herself on her knees picking through a scattering of pennies that friends assumed were not coins, but marijuana. In response to her friends' ribbing, Andemariam wrote on her profile, ''[T]hose are PENNIES not WEED . . . why would I put my weed on the floor?"

The explanation follows her favorite quote from an episode of ''Sex and the City": ''Is it safe to buy pot from strangers? They're not strangers. They're our new friends with pot."

In a telephone interview, Andemariam said her entries were meant in jest and were simply thoughts she had in the moment.

''I realize that someone looking at my profile might get a different impression of me than I intended, but it's not supposed to encompass yourself -- everybody's profile changes daily," she said. ''It's completely ephemeral."

For adults to look to the Facebook as a definitive source of information, she said, is a violation of the spirit of Facebook and likely to yield inaccurate interpretations.

''What we put up there is banter between students. It's typical stuff of student dialogue," she said. ''To have that kind of monitoring by employers or administrators would be unfair. You can't be responsible for what you're saying at all times in your life."