Many Division I schools have programs in place to monitor their athletes on social media, however Sports Information Director Gene McGivern said St. Thomas won’t be next.

After a University of North Carolina football player’s tweets led to an NCAA investigation and major sanctions, universities started paying closer attention to the social media postings of its athletes. In some cases, teams simply ban athletes from Twitter. In others, universities ask players to grant them full access to the private features of their accounts or hire companies, such as Varsity Monitor or UDiligence, to monitor their athletes on social media.

McGivern said St. Thomas doesn’t have an official policy regarding social media for its athletes.

“We don’t have anything official in place, and I don’t really think it’s necessary at our level,” McGivern said. “I could see it more at the Division I level with the spotlight they have, but even then that gets kind of tricky with arguments over free speech.”

McGivern said it’s more of an issue left up to the coaches.

“The coaches are pretty good about handling that with their athletes,” McGivern said.

Sophomore softball pitcher Kendra Bowe said she hasn’t heard of any social media monitoring for current students at St. Thomas.

“I haven’t heard of anything like that here. I do know that coaches look at social media … during the recruiting process,” Bowe said.

Senior Gavin Yseth, a decathlete on the men’s track and field team, said he thinks the team does a good job of monitoring itself and extra attention to social media isn’t necessary.

“It’s never a topic that’s come up. We’re usually pretty good about being responsible with things we’re saying,” Yseth said. “If it ever was a problem, it would come up, but it really hasn’t been an issue.”

Bowe said she could understand monitoring social media at higher profile Division I schools but doesn’t think it’s necessary in Division III.

Bowe said she is careful about what she posts and wouldn’t want athletes to post anything that could damage the reputation of their team or school.

Softball coach John Tschida said he doesn’t monitor his players’ social media, but does warn them of the trouble that it can cause.

“Keep it clean. Stay away from negative comments of anyone, whether it be a teacher, a player, or another person and just stay positive,” Tschida said.

Yseth said it isn’t disobliging of university administration or a team’s coaching staff to set social media restrictions on athletes.

“It’s not completely unreasonable because you do put the shield on your chest and you’re representing St. Thomas, and you want to represent your school in the best way possible,” Yseth said.

Tschida said if an athlete behaves in a way that reflects badly on the university, then an athlete shouldn’t be surprised if there are repercussions for that behavior.

“You have consequences when you do something that’s not smart,” Tschida said.

Jacob Sevening can be reached at seve8586@stthomas.edu.