Toning down the Tar Heels’ Tweets

UNC Athletics Director for Communications Steve Kirschner answered questions Tuesday about his department’s crackdown on student athletes’ Twitter posts.

Kirschner visited the N.C. Scholastic Media Association Summer Institute to give a press conference to the institute’s journalism classes. He told the students that as far as the athletics office is concerned, UNC student athletes have extremely limited free speech rights in that they represent the University more directly than most students.

“If (a non-student) Tweets it, chances are The (Raleigh) News & Observer won’t care. If a men’s basketball player … Tweets it, they’re going to care,” Kirschner said.

“Playing athletics at the University of North Carolina is a privilege. It’s not a right. It’s not part of the Constitution.

“There are a lot of things UNC student athletes have to do ‘the correct way’ to be a part of UNC’s athletic teams. Representing the University in a good light when they’re on social media is just another one of them.”

As the 2009-10 basketball season progressed, the frequency of player Tweets — 11 members of the team have accounts — increased as players lost focus or became discouraged with the season.

UNC players faced criticism from followers and the media for their Twitter posts, including one that was deemed unsportsmanlike and one that revealed the previously confidential medical status of freshman forward David Wear.

Earlier this month, the athletics staff faced criticism from the players and the community at large when players were told to tone down the content of their Tweets.

The crackdown, which prompted freshman forward John Henson to Tweet a farewell to his self-identity, points to a difference between what is considered acceptable for students and student athletes.

The question, Kirschner said, is how to preserve Williams’ wish that his athletes act like college kids while guaranteeing that the University’s media attention remain positive.

There has been talk of incorporating social media into a department-wide policy on student athlete communication, Kirschner said.

The conversation should start this fall at the earliest, when coaches return from their respective camps.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.