College snooping: ethical or invasive?

It is a well known fact that many college admission offices trawl through seniors’ social media looking for what may sway an acceptance or denial to their university. However, in the ever-digitizing world, should colleges allow what a student does in their free time to affect their admission chances?  On one hand, it allows admission officers to see an unscripted version of the applicant during a heavily scripted admission process, i.e. high school achievement and accolades. From the applicant’s side, it allows them to showcase more of themselves to colleges. Some seniors may not know about the potential consequences of their internet postings though. Colleges certainly have the right to view public information to help determine an applicant’s potential because applicants, and all internet users, have a responsibility to decency when using the internet. So long as officers are in tune with high school culture and keep their investigation within the bounds of good taste, social media browsing shouldn’t be an issue. Often times, high schoolers’ online outlets such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter show a questionable highlight reel of carefully curated images to present a doctored personality to the public anyways, posing no threat of indecency.  High schoolers still must understand that anything digitized has the potential to be permanent and public, no matter what, and the negative impacts of what they post can be devastating. Just two years ago, Harvard rescinded the acceptances of 12 students because of offensive “memes” they were sharing on a private Facebook group. The posts’ contents were absolutely indefensible, so it is understandable why Harvard did not want those students representing their prestigious university. But if high schoolers are being held accountable for private online conversations, the constitutional concept of freedom of expression is being crimped upon.  The lines for what is right and wrong when “stalking” others’ social media is becoming increasingly blurred. College applicants will never fully know what about their digital footprint could lead to disaster. Until colleges become less opaque about their online scanning policies, it can never hurt to keep what you do private and personal.