BLOCKED: The aftermath

Following the revelation that Utah State University blocked a current student during USU’s semi-annual Gripe Night in December, the university has decided to review their moderation policies on social media.

According to USU spokesperson Amanda DeRito, “Utah State University is in the process of adjusting moderation procedures used on the institution’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.”

She added that USU blocks very few accounts. Over the past 10 years, USU has blocked 15 Twitter accounts, 17 Instagram accounts and 42 Facebook accounts.

However, in an effort to provide greater transparency around blocking accounts in the future, USU recently unblocked and unbanned all accounts.

DeRito also said the USU Marketing and Communications office will be working with other social media managers throughout the USU campus system to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding moderation of social media accounts.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, has also written a letter to the university. The organization expressed concern that USU violated the constitutional rights of Grant Bess and several others when it blocked them from the university’s official social media accounts.

“USU’s social media policy included on its Facebook ‘About’ page does not provide a constitutional basis for the censorship of student or faculty expression in online public forums created by the university,” the letter states. “The continued maintenance of this policy unconstitutionally chills the expressive rights of all USU students, and USU must cease such unconstitutional enforcement of these policies.”

FIRE has also called on the university to respond to them directly.