The question of whether or not to accept a student’s Facebook friend request has been perplexing GSIs since the social networking website took off a few years ago.

But the lack of a clear, central University policy regarding online relationships between faculty and students has forced GSIs to form self-imposed, ad-hoc guidelines.

Many GSIs said they decline friend requests from students during the semester, but tend to accept them after the semester ends. While this policy remains unofficial at the University, it appears to be a common practice across the many of the University's departments.

Jonathan Shaheen, a GSI in the Philosophy Department, said he practices a policy of accepting students’ friend requests only once the term ends.

“I would guess that the typical policy is to let students drive Facebook interaction, and accept whatever they want,” Shaheen said.

A GSI in the Political Science Department, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not permitted to discuss department policy, also shared Shaheen’s policy of accepting students’ friend requests after the semester.

However, he voiced several concerns about GSI-student interactions outside of the classroom.

“There are a myriad of concerns that range from perceptions of favoritism to outright inappropriate relationships,” he said. “That being said, I did tell my students that if they wanted to friend me I would accept their requests after the semester.”

When asked if the University had any central policy governing Facebook friendships between professors, GSIs and students, John King, vice provost for academic information, said “the short answer is 'no.' ”

King said that while he could imagine circumstances in which social networking sites like Facebook could be used for questionable activity, University administrators had not yet deemed it appropriate to step in.

“This University doesn’t jump on the opportunity to create policies just because there is an issue,” he said.

He added that he had not yet been made aware of any issues, though, he admitted, such cases wouldn't likely cross his desk.

The concern of inappropriate relationships between GSIs and their students is explicitly addressed in the UM Faculty Handbook.

According to Section 8.D.12 of the handbook, which outlines personal relationships between faculty and students, “ ... as a matter of sound judgment and professional ethics, faculty members have a responsibility to avoid any apparent or actual conflict between their professional responsibilities and personal relationships with students.”

GSI Charles Gentry, the staff organizer for the Graduate Employees’ Organization, explained that while relationships outside of the classroom are generally frowned upon, they are by no means prohibited.

“This policy in no way prohibits interpersonal relationships, but ‘strongly discourages romantic and/or sexual relationships between faculty members and students,’ and explicitly limits supervisory roles to avoid conflicts of interest.”, Gentry said, citing guidelines in the UM Faculty Handbook.

However, Gentry said the policy doesn’t directly address online relationships between GSIs and students.

“This (policy) does not seem to apply to friend or group invites on Facebook, or other online social networking communities,” Gentry said.

King explained that the main reason no such policy exists is because the administration doesn’t “want to make any rules about communication between anybody in the University that would have a chilling effect on reasonable communication” — such as school work, the football team or a political race.

In an academic setting, it is important for communication to remain open, King said, adding that the inappropriate interactions are what should be dealt with, not the medium in which they take place.

“The issue is the relationship, not Facebook,” he said. “Our bias is not to shut down the communications.