It Is Just a Game (of Jews vs. Nazi Beer Pong): A Case Study on Law, Ethics, and Social Media

• Published date: 01 August 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jlse.12062
• Date: 01 August 2017

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 34, Issue 2, 241–272, Summer 2017

It Is Just a Game (of Jews vs. Nazi Beer

Pong): A Case Study on Law, Ethics,

and Social Media

Susanna Monseau∗and Nancy Lasher∗∗

I. INTRODUCTION

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredi-

tation standards on learning and teaching, adopted in 2013, require students

to “engage in experiential and active learning designed to improve skills and

the application of knowledge in practice.”1The discussion of the facts of real-

life case studies is a great way to help students engage in this kind of practical

knowledge application. Since many, if not most, undergraduates have little

familiarity with the law and legal concepts that arise in business situations

and most have not yet started their careers, it is sometimes helpful to use a

case study about a topic or situation they already know something about. The

following case is about what happened when a high school student repub-

lished on her blog a picture of other high school students playing a drinking

game. The students had posted the picture of themselves playing the game

to Snapchat. (Snapchat is designed so that photos on it disappear after they

are viewed).2It showed the students involved in an activity that raised ethical

concerns.

∗Professor, The College of New Jersey.

∗∗Associate Professor, The College of New Jersey.

1Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation, AACSB

INTERNATIONAL—THE ASSOC.TOADVANCE COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS OF BUSINESS, http://www.

aacsb.edu//media/AACSB/Docs/Accreditation/Standards/2013-bus-standards-update.ashx

(last visited Sept. 21, 2016).

2Snapchat’s privacy policy states that “Snapchat automatically deletes the content of your

Snaps . .. after we detect that a Snap has been opened by all recipients or has expired.” Snap,

Inc., Privacy Policy, https://www.snap.com/en-US/privacy/privacy-policy/ (last modified Jan.

10, 2017).

C2017 The Authors

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2017Academy of Legal Studies in Business

241

242 Vol. 34 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

Part II provides a synopsis of the incident, which courses will benefit

from use of the case, and teaching objectives. Part III provides the facts of

the case in detail. Part IV provides background information on the areas of

law raised by the case. Questions and suggestions for discussion, including

freedom of speech in the public high school setting, privacy, and the unique

challenges presented by social media use, are presented in Part V. Part VI

concludes.

II. OVERVIEW AND TEACHING OBJECTIVES

A. Synopsis of the Case

Students at a high school in a wealthy university town engaged in an offensive

drinking game called Jews vs. Nazis beer pong at an off-campus party.3They

posted a photo to social media site, Snapchat, that showed them engaged in

underage drinking and setting up the game. Many teens use Snapchat be-

cause photos (or snaps) disappear from the site, depending on the Snapchat

service used, either a few seconds after the photo is opened by its recipients,

or if unopened, between twenty-four hours to thirty days later.4A classmate

of the students playing the game saw the “snap” and took a screenshot of it,

which she uploaded to her blog.5In her blog post she was highly critical of

the players for their insensitivity and immaturity, first in playing the offensive

game and, even more, in publicizing it. The blog post went viral and soon the

national media showed up at the school to cover the story. School officials

had to address calls for them to discipline the students, and the local police

started an investigation into how the players had procured the alcohol for

their game. Most of the students involved in the drinking game were popular

student leaders and athletes. The case asks students to consider the actions

3In its simplest form, beer pong requires a member of one team to “toss a ping-pong ball from

one side of the table into an opponent’s cup, which forces your opponent to drink its contents.”

Eva Tam, Wall Street Journal, Beer Pong in Hong Kong Has Its Own Kooky Rules—And Purists Hate

Them, WALL ST. J. (Mar. 1, 2017), https://www.wsj.com/articles/beer-pong-in-hong-kong-has-

its-own-kooky-rulesand-purists-hate-them-1488391385.

4Snapchat Support, When Does Snapchat Delete Snaps and Chats?, https://support.

snapchat.com/en-US/article/when-are-snaps-chats-deleted (last visited Mar. 28, 2017).

5Snapchat acknowledges that viewers can take screenshots. See Snapchat Support, https://

support.snapchat.com/en-US/article/guidelines (last visited Mar. 28, 2017).

2017 / It Is Just a Game (of Jews vs. Nazi Beer Pong) 243

of all three parties, the game players, the blogging student, and the school,

in terms of the legal and ethical issues.

B. Intended Courses

This case is intended for use in graduate and undergraduate sessions of legal

environment of business, business ethics, or elective courses more specifically

devoted to the study of the legal issues surrounding the Internet and social

media. The facts of the case are short and simple, and the subject matter

and setting are familiar, relevant, and of great interest to students. Since the

case discusses software that students use (or at least are familiar with), the

students become immediately engaged. Despite its simplicity and accessibility,

the case raises several important legal and ethical issues that generate a lot

of discussion. Depending on the course and how long instructors wish to

spend on this material, instructors can give out only the Case Facts, or, after

covering the First and Fourth Amendment, instructors can give out the Case

Facts and the section presented in Part IV, “Legal and Ethical Issues Raised

by the Beer Pong Case.” The amount of information that instructors provide

to students will determine whether discussion is on spotting the legal and

ethical issues, or is a more in-depth discussion of case law.

C. Teaching Objectives

This case offers an opportunity to canvas a variety of legal issues or to delve

deeply into legal issues involved in social media use. The case is presented

with the following objectives in mind:

1. To introduce students to the various legal issues related to the use of

social media, including online speech rights, defamation law, privacy,

school discipline for off-campus activity, and the contractual terms of

social media services;

2. To have students explore ethical issues related to social media use, espe-

cially in the school or workplace setting;

3. To have students consider the impact of social media use on their reputa-

tions, college admission and scholarship status, and future employment;

4. To enable students to consider the balance between speech and pri-

vacy online by focusing on the arguments for and against a “right to be

forgotten.”