Colleague posts picture of herself in underwear on social media

[Descartes]

OP, I'm sorry that you're getting all this finger wagging.  I'm assuming you genuinely are concerned for her and mean well.  If that's the case, this absolutely will bite her.  No, the college isn't going to kick her out or defund her, but how people view you is important, and your hunch is correct that many people will not take her seriously because of this; many of those people would never even admit that if pressed, but will simply deny her opportunities for other perceived reasons.

But what everyone IS correct about is that you can't say anything about this and it's not your place.  She'll learn eventually, or she'll get lucky and it'll never become an issue.

[Caracal]

OP, I'm sorry that you're getting all this finger wagging.  I'm assuming you genuinely are concerned for her and mean well.  If that's the case, this absolutely will bite her.  No, the college isn't going to kick her out or defund her, but how people view you is important, and your hunch is correct that many people will not take her seriously because of this; many of those people would never even admit that if pressed, but will simply deny her opportunities for other perceived reasons.

But what everyone IS correct about is that you can't say anything about this and it's not your place.  She'll learn eventually, or she'll get lucky and it'll never become an issue.

Well, grad school is about professionalization. Part of that is about learning how to put up some boundaries between your professional and personal lives. If posting slightly racy pictures is important in some way to her, she might just realize that she should put them on Instagram and keep the professional contacts out of there.

[Descartes]

OP, I'm sorry that you're getting all this finger wagging.  I'm assuming you genuinely are concerned for her and mean well.  If that's the case, this absolutely will bite her.  No, the college isn't going to kick her out or defund her, but how people view you is important, and your hunch is correct that many people will not take her seriously because of this; many of those people would never even admit that if pressed, but will simply deny her opportunities for other perceived reasons.

But what everyone IS correct about is that you can't say anything about this and it's not your place.  She'll learn eventually, or she'll get lucky and it'll never become an issue.

Well, grad school is about professionalization. Part of that is about learning how to put up some boundaries between your professional and personal lives. If posting slightly racy pictures is important in some way to her, she might just realize that she should put them on Instagram and keep the professional contacts out of there.

Yep.  I agree completely.

[larryc]

Sometimes you just keep walking.