Facebook posting gets college student in trouble

HICKORY, NC (WBTV) - A college student in Hickory is in hot water after what he posted on the school's own Facebook page.

Marc Bechtol has been banned from Catawba Valley Community College for two semesters because for posting what the college calls "disturbing."

Bechtol says what he wrote was satire, a joke, he wasn't serious…

"There was no intent to do it," he told WBTV.

But CVCC officials say it doesn't matter what he says, there's still a student code of conduct.

School officials said they believe there has been a violation of that code and that Bechtol has been upset for months over a debit card issued to access his student aid.

The college and a bank have partnered to provide these cards.

"It's a $19 a month fee for inactivity and 50 cents a transaction," said Bechtol.

Though the school says students can opt out of the card arrangement, Bechtol went on the CVCC Facebook page and wrote this:

"Anybody else have an inbox full of spam? Anyone know a good virus to send them? Maybe we should register them with every porn site known to man."

He backtracked a few posts later, though, and said it was a bit excessive.

But too late, the school said "no more" and told him to leave campus. He was allowed back in class on Thursday while he waits on the appeal process.

Bechtol will meet with college officials Friday morning to appeal for the second time. If the suspension is upheld, he'll have one more appeal in the next week, and a committee of students will decide his fate.

"Students we talked with say he was wrong to post what he did, even if he didn't mean it," school officials said.

Bechtol says he'd like to put it all behind him.