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The office of University Communications has filed a request to Facebook to have the Coombe Daddy page, an unofficial page which pokes fun at Chancellor Robert Coombe, taken down.
Facebook staff has not responded to the request yet, according to Chase Squires, senior public affairs specialist for University Communications. The office reported the page to Facebook citing use of the Chancellor’s name and image as a violation of the now publicly-traded company’s terms of service, which state that fake profiles created to imitate real people are not allowed on Facebook.
“We don’t think it’s fair that anyone should be the victim of impersonation, regardless of who it is,” Squires said.
Due to the parody-based nature of the page, it is unclear whether Facebook may consider it “impersonation” of Coombe.
The identity of the Coombe Daddy creator was not released to the Clarion. However, those who regularly comment on the infrequent status updates confirmed the creator is a current student.
At press time, the Coombe Daddy Facebook page has 42 “likes.” The page first appeared online in mid-January. The information contained within the About section describes Coombe as the “Supreme Chancellor Coombe Daddy (Palpatine) of the Inclusive Galactic Republic of DUing it.”
“It speaks to the distance DU students feel with the Chancellor,” said senior Andrew Struttman, whose close friend started the page. “There was no malice intended. It was just an outgrowth from a lack of exposure from the chancellor to the DU students.”
The most recent update, which was posted yesterday, reads: “Metro wants to rename themselves Metro State University of Denver. I will accept this declaration of war and challenge their Chancellor to a gentleman’s lightsaber duel to the death atop the Ritchie Center Tower. Gonna go Palpatine on his ass!”
Another update, from Jan. 13, reads: “In order to pretend to actually care about the needs for students, I will be hosting ‘office hours’ weekly. You can come bring any ideas or grievances to me. In order to maximize this initiative, I have created a few rules for these times: Meetings can only be five minutes long, you cannot complain about decisions that have already been made, and dissent with my glorious opinion will not be tolerated. I look forward to meeting with many of you soon!”
“There’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek element to it,” said Struttman. “Students are tired of radical inclusion, a speech code and oversensitivities.”
