Students respond to anonymous posts
Yik Yak has returned to college campuses, raising some community concerns. PHOTO CREDIT: Contributed by crunchbase.com
After four years of being offline, the anonymous discussion board application Yik Yak has re-entered the URI community to controversy.
The app allows anonymous users to post and read others’ posts within a five-mile radius, and among other things, was used earlier this semester at the University of Rhode Island to spread the word about the death of a campus groundhog and hold a vigil.
While many students have been enjoying the application, administrators have started taking note of the app for a more negative reason.
“[Yik Yak] allows people, and I say people because I don’t think it’s just students attending one within the geographical area, pretty much to say whatever they want, anonymously, and people have no real recourse for up once it’s out there,” Dan Graney, the dean of students, said.
Tori Frank, a sophomore studying sports media and communication, said that for many students, the app has been a source of entertainment as well as a means of spreading info and jokes about campus life.
“I use it like three times a day — just scrolling through it,” she said. “I think it’s kind of funny, but I’m not obsessed with it. I know a lot of people are always, like, on the app or sharing screenshots of posts.”
However, according to Frank, sometimes the conversations and posts on Yik Yak can be “cruel.” As a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority, she has seen a lot of negativity surrounding Greek Life on the app.
“Although personally, my chapter never really [was] affected by Yik Yak, there’s always polls that say things like ‘upvote for the sorority’ or ‘downvote for this sorority,’” she said. “Yik Yak can be horrible, and I wouldn’t pay attention to it. And like a lot of the people, a lot of certain sororities and fraternities are pretty affected by Yik Yak.”
Mitchell Asante, the president of the Interfraternity Council, said that the app could paint a poor image of Greek Life and other organizations on campus. According to him, Yik Yak has already had an effect on some chapters because people can post anything anonymously.
“Sometimes people can go on there and basically say anything about any organization on campus, and sometimes they can catch wind and people might believe it,” Asante said. “It becomes just like a competition of who can post the most vile things sometimes. If you see examples of different things that people post either personalized to [a specific person or organization.] It’s definitely not good for the climate and the image of the University as well.”
Asante said that Greek Life at URI plays an “important role” in the community. He hopes that the community looks at what Greek Life does positively instead of the negatives.
“I [would] rather focus on the positives, and I definitely do want to tell you that we take, sexual assault, substance abuse, all that very face seriously,” he said. “That’s why we’re constantly in contact with the [Office of Violence Prevention and Advocacy Services] to make sure that students are going through the right channels. Because honestly, I don’t want to see Title IX-related things. It’s not meant for the eyes of the kind of public to just look at an anonymous post of like a very serious related, like a Title IX case, that should go through the proper channels, you know, the proper reporting.”
Graney encouraged students to verify the information and reports that they receive on the application. He further encouraged students “to not use it at all” as he has not seen anything positive come out of the app.
“I think our students are here to help build that community and this is, this app particularly just tears it down and tears individuals down, but it hurts us, overall,” he said.
If you are looking for further information and resources regarding campus policy and reporting services visit the dean of students website.