A North Carolina college student who was angry at what he believes is the forced use of a school-branded debit card that also doubles as college ID was kicked off campus after ranting about the policy on Facebook.
He suggested that other students reading the Facebook post find "good viruses" to send to the school, or register the school for porn sites. School administrators read his rant, perceived it as a threat, then banned him from campus and pulled him from his classes.
He has since been reinstated, but the program he was upset about is still in place—and the school is basically treating him like a “hacker” now, requiring him to notify the administration before he logs on to school computers. What a bunch of baloney.
Bechtol complained last spring that school was forcing him to obtain a debit card issued by financial firm Higher One, and that his personal information would be shared with the company. When he did, he said he immediately began receiving credit card spam, which directly inspired his Facebook comment.
"Did anyone else get a bunch of credit card spam in their CVCC inbox today? So, did CVCC sell our names to banks, or did Higher One? I think we should register CVCC’s address with every porn site known to man. Anyone know any good viruses to send them?" he wrote, according to the letter FIRE published.
Connecticut-based Higher One works with hundreds of schools to create combination student ID cards/debit cards that can be used for direct deposit of financial aid funds. The cards can also be used to withdraw cash or make purchases. There have been frequent complaints that the school cards carry higher fees than traditional ATM cards. On many campuses, students are charged 50 cents for each "debit" card purchase at retail outlets in which they enter their PIN codes for verification — known as PIN-debit purchases, as opposed to signature-debit. ATM withdrawals at non-Higher One cash machines cost $2.50.
More from WCNC’s Bob Sullivan at MSNBC.com.
An earlier WCNC report is here, and a Charlotte Observer post is here.
Here’s the letter from the school’s VP of student and technology services sent Oct. 14, which says the school modified its disciplinary action because the student offered to publicly express regret for his “poor choice of words.”
FIRE, (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) supported Bechtol in the matter. Their statement on today’s news is here.
Snip:
Despite CVCC’s decision to rescind Bechtol’s punishment, problems remain, as Bechtol is still required to notify the college before using computers on campus. CVCC also has failed to revise the unconstitutional policy it used to punish him and has not rescinded its claim that the Facebook comment was a policy violation.