DULUTH, Minn. —  The University of Minnesota Duluth has asked its athletes to stop using networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace after students were disciplined for Web postings last year.

Athletic director Bob Nielson says student athletes face higher scrutiny than other students, so the university wants to educate them about being careful.

The school's policy refers to derogatory comments about athletes or athletic department personnel posted on Web sites, as well as pictures of underage drinking and other inappropriate behavior.

Nielson noted that the Web site badjocks.com seeks out questionable material on athlete sites and posts reports of misbehaving athletes.