A University of Iowa athletics board has approved guidelines allowing school administrators to check players' sites on public networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.
The policy was approved Thursday by the Presidential Committee on Athletics. It goes into effect in August, a year after Facebook photos surfaced showing a number of Iowa football players who are no longer with the team. The players were holding cash and liquor bottles.
"This is an initial policy intended to get to the egregious," said Bill Hines, a University of Iowa law professor who helped craft the policy. "This policy represents a good first step."
An athletic department administrator will monitor the sites. All student-athletes must sign the policy before competing.
The athletic department has the right to investigate and take action against any athlete who violates, or appears to violate, NCAA, university, department or team rules under the guidelines.
The policy was revised multiple times, as members of the Iowa Student Athlete Advisory Committee and the athletics department discussed key issues. Those included random checks, which upset some student-athlete advisory committee members.
The athletic department said it will target partial or total nudity, sexual misconduct, underage alcohol consumption, use of illegal drugs, hazing and obscene gestures.
