As another year rolls around, returning students have started to notice changes around Choate’s campus. The most glaring physical change on campus may be the demolishing of St. John Hall, but many students have also noticed the launch of Office 365 Groups for clubs and organizations. The initiative was introduced at the first club leadership meeting at the beginning of fall term with the intent of replacing club social media pages with a Microsoft central group system. The change was also meant to facilitate better communication between the clubs and the Choate administration. At the meeting, student leaders were advised to use the Office 365 groups as their sole platform for their clubs, or to turn over their social media passwords to the Communications Office. This recent change has been received with mixed reviews. Some students call the change an act of censorship, and others praise it for helping their club become more organized and creating a central page for all members of a club.
One of the factors prompting the change was the need to uphold Choate’s image and reputation online. Ms. Sarah Gordon, Assistant Director of Communications for Web and Social Media, remarked, “All clubs should keep in mind that whether in name or not, they are representing Choate to the outside world through their pages and sites. It is important that we are all thoughtful about how to best promote the Choate experience in that space.”
According to Devon Bernsley ’16, co-editor-in-chief of The Brief, “I feel that the new Office 365 groups are a great program to use for clubs. There are a lot of issues with managing the program though, and I feel that the Communications Department should be more communicative with students about the opportunities this program provides and the accessibility club leaders can gain from it.”
Keziah Clarke ’16, also a co-editor-in-chief of The Brief, noted, “There are many groups at Choate that have social media accounts at varying levels of activity and impact. Choate has an image to uphold, and it is a lot easier on everyone to have streamlined content.”
While not willing to call it an outright form of censorship, Julie Tamura ’16, president of the Japanese Club, pointed out, “I definitely understand where the administration is coming from because these social media accounts do represent Choate to the public, but I think that having some liberty to present ourselves to the public, and not just the Choate community, is not a bad idea.” Zemia Edmondson ’16, a president of SAGE, agreed, saying, “I don’t think it’s a form of censorship, but I do think the group pages are a way for the school to hold onto anything that could potentially be seen as controversial before the outside world sees it.”
Other students have expressed their concerns that the Office 365 groups are not designed to reach out to alumni, and they worry that by switching from social media to group pages, they will lose a valuable connection to the outside world.
Although some students feel that handing in their clubs’ social media accounts is a violation of privacy, many feel that the change will not have an impact on the overall function of clubs. Olivia Finemore ’16, president of Classics League, remarked, “Until the administration starts using these group pages to police students’ words, it is not a form of censorship. Students are still free to discuss any topic of their choice without any negative backlash.”
Ms. Gordon also reiterated that clubs may request approval of their social media accounts: “We would only edit a problematic post if the adviser and or club leaders were unavailable to address it. This is some of the information we share with clubs when they request approval of a social media account.”
Now that clubs have started to meet regularly, some club leaders are reporting concerns with the new system. According to Clarke, “Our Office 365 group seems like it could be effective, but I have had a few issues with it. Not everyone knew it was there apparently, so they did not know that I sent the group a message on Office 365.” Edmondson remarked that Choate programs are less user-friendly than time-tested social media mega-user sites like Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram.
For many, the new group space has been inconvenient, whereas for others, the new program has provided a unifying platform for club members. Going forward, students hope to rely more on and take advantage of these new group spaces.
