Facebook - Privacy Violation?

Originally Posted by giggles7861

Alright - so my Executive Board has been struggling with the whole Facebook/Alcohol image for a while. Obviously, it's wrong to have pictures of yourself with alcohol if you're not of age. It's illegal. However, they have recently decided that they are not going to allow anyone that is OVER the age of 21 to display any sort of alcohol in their pictures either and "action will be taken" if this continues.

I'm 22 years old. If I'm being forced to take down a picture of myself enjoying a beer that I purchased for myself legally, isn't this a violation of my privacy? I'm having trouble conveying this to them. Help would be appreciated

How is this a violation of your privacy? Privacy is having the ability to withhold info about oneself and to be selective of who to release that info to. I think you might be confused -- if anything, they may be infringing your freedom of expression.

Regardless of that, if your bylaws require you to uphold a certain positive image, then having a photo of you enjoying a beer might not be the best idea. If you're willing to comply with rules saying that you need to have a certain GPA to have certain member privileges (and stay in the sorority), then why can't you comply with making sure you don't have any online photos of you holding a beer? I've heard of chapters fining members/taking away privileges because they wouldn't clean up the Facebook profiles and photos. You may have the right to have photos of you holding beer [that you purchased because you're 22 OMG!!!ELEVENTY!!!] but is it really worth risking your sisterhood? Good luck trying to convince them, btw. I have a feeling you'll have little to no luck.

Assuming you're a collegian, I'd just suck it up until you become an alum. They're not doing this to punish you. They're just ensuring that you and your sisters maintain a positive image, and I don't see why you'd even want to question that -- especially when it makes YOU look good.