Aram Ghoogasian: Student government officials must use social media cautiously

This year’s Undergraduate Students Association Council internal vice president has inherited more than a title from his predecessor – he’s taken on a share of the controversy, too.

In the wake of a scandal involving last year’s IVP and current University of California student regent-designate Avi Oved, Avinoam Baral has found himself in his own internet-based mess, although without the far-reaching accusations Oved faced. But this time, the lighting rod isn’t a leaked email; it’s a tweet Baral wrote from his account that read: “Is it bad that when I’m in a rush at the airport I pick the line w/ the least number of ppl that look like they’d get ‘randomly’ selected?”

To put it shortly, yes, it is bad.

While he was probably trying to poke fun at the Transportation Security Administration, ironically, Baral wound up profiling others. His microaggression had a particularly far-reaching effect, quite likely because it was acted out over Twitter, where everything is not only public but also documented. Several students reposted a screenshot of the tweet on Facebook and other social networks, some of them even calling for his resignation.

Student government officials need to recognize that what they do online is often as important as what they do in real life. Comments that might be innocuous or at the very least kindly ignored among friends could cause a firestorm when they’re posted publicly, particularly from an elected official’s account.

It’s especially prescient to pay attention to what you tweet considering that our notoriously unhealthy campus climate has been played out online more than anywhere else. People don’t yell at each other walking down Bruin Walk most of the time – unless it’s at that random preacher – but they seem to have no trouble saying horrendous things to one another over the internet.

Take, for example, the cyberbullying of the minutes-taker after the divestment meeting in February. She faced humiliation not only from students, but from various conservative bloggers as well. Her experience is an extreme case of something that happens every day on our campus – passive-aggressive Facebook statuses with hundreds of angry comments, Twitter fights and even comments on Daily Bruin articles contribute in a profound way to the negative atmosphere everyone is dealing with. We would all do well to remember that, whether we’re student government officials or not.

As for Baral, he needs to realize – if he doesn’t already – that everything he says, does or posts online will be put under a microscope. As far as our campus goes, he is now a high-profile individual. The title of IVP comes with the responsibility not only to regulate USAC’s internal affairs, but also to act as a representative for students – two responsibilities that could be compromised by this sort of mistake.

Many students, especially his detractors, won’t forget this easily. There isn’t much Baral can do to appease those who were hurt by what he said.

All the other councilmembers can do now is remember that the physical distance between the sender of a tweet and its readers doesn’t cushion the impact of the words. If this simple concept is too hard for them to grasp, it may be time to put the phone down and keep quiet.