Letters to the editor for Friday, Jan. 11

As most students have chosen to take advantage of social networking sites like Facebook, they must be willing to accept the risks that come with the choice to publicize their lives on the Internet.

Though the reaction by Eden Prairie High School may be harsh -- and perhaps the courts will deem it unduly so -- students have to take seriously the possibility that anything they choose to disclose could come back to haunt them.

The same generation that grew up with the Internet, enjoying the many conveniences it affords, is now begrudgingly forced to deal with the correspondingly high levels of requisite personal responsibility.

JOHN GRIMES, ST. PAUL

Public domain I find it interesting that so many students at Eden Prairie High School are upset over an invasion of privacy because the administration has used their Facebook accounts as evidence of drinking.

These students forget that their Facebook and MySpace sites are in the public domain, and may be viewed by anyone. This can be an even bigger issue -- potential employers may choose not to hire someone after having searched their name on the Internet and finding information on one's "hobbies." News outlets often use these sites to find photos and information on people who have been involved in crimes, both as perpetrators and victims.

It is up to these students to use the social networking sites responsibly, knowing that anyone might be viewing them.

Mixed messages Earlier this week, we read about MnSCU hoping to persuade the Legislature to allow it to notify parents about (adult) student drinking -- an action that would have little impact beyond legal protection for MnSCU schools.

Just two days later we read about the outrage of Eden Prairie parents whose (minor) students were disciplined for publicly posting pictures of themselves drinking.

Am I the only one who sees the connection here? Parent notification for drinking in college won't change behavior for two reasons: A majority of parents don't think it's a "big deal" even in high school, and these same parents are teaching their kids that you don't have to take responsibility for the choices you do make.

PAIGE ROHMAN, MINNEAPOLIS

A Jan. 9 letter writer questions college students' voting in the District 25 special election. He complains that college students pack up in spring and leave the rest of the state to the consequences of their vote.

And what about businesspeople who travel more than two days a week? They are out of the district more than the college students are. Come to think of it, shouldn't anyone who works outside the district also be disenfranchised? They spend more than eight hours a day outside the district. They actually have less physical presence in the district than do the college students. So they should be banned as well.

It would seem the only people the letter writer would logically permit to vote are those who live and work in the district and don't spend their vacations outside and those who don't work outside the home. Everyone else sways the vote and leaves the rest of the state to live with the consequences.

TED A. ALLEN, EDINA

Regarding the Jan. 8 letter, "A non-PC champion," asserting the firing of Chris Lind was the doing of the "PC crowd," the writer missed the point.

If a 44-year-old man, who is not authorized by either the school board or parents, were to take my children aside to talk to them about their sexuality, I would bring the police to his front door.

Today marks a sad anniversary: six years since the arrival of the first prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center. The treatment of the detainees there is a betrayal of American values and has shamed our country internationally. Our country has held detainees, some for all six years, without granting even the most fundamental legal rights. Most are being held without any charge, sometimes even after intelligence officials have determined they are not terrorists.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both favor shutting down Guantanamo, as does Rice's predecessor, Colin Powell.

Nationwide, the American Civil Liberties Union has set today as a day of protest, declaring that it's long past time that we end this nightmarish treatment and close down Guantanamo.

We'll be wearing orange to show our outrage. When you see us, please ask us about Guantanamo and what you can do to help shut it down.

CHARLES SAMUELSON, ST. PAUL;