Hate speech returns to campus

Andrii Shadrin, Guidon Reporter|November 11, 2022

Hate+speech+returns+to+campus
What is Yik Yak?

By Lilian Lu

Guidon Staff Reporter

Yik Yak, a social media platform that launched in 2014, allows users within a five-mile radius to create anonymous threads known as “Yaks.” The creators, Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, Furman University graduates created the app as a hobby to allow university students to gossip about their peers and had quickly gained popularity through its anonymous aspects.

Yik Yak was shut down in April 2017 due to repetitive campus controversies involving bullying and racist threats. Soon after Yik Yak was acquired by Square inc., the parent company of Snapchat, after hiring Yik Yak’s employees and its non-exclusive license for $1 million.

Under new leadership, Yik Yak implemented new protocols known as “community guardrails” to regulate the cyberbullying and sharing of private information and was relaunched in February 2021. The new app now includes downvotes, which will automatically remove any Yaks that receive more than five downvotes from nearby “yakkers,” while users could earn reputation points called “yakarma,” based on the number of up votes they receive. With the new rise of Yik Yak, the hate speech, gossip and users are rising once more.

This year two students from Iowa State University were arrested for posting Yaks containing warnings to avoid specific campus buildings at specific times. The Campus police were informed and worked in partnership with the FBI and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation to “identify and monitor the individuals responsible for the posts,” according to the Iowa State University Press Release set. The students were arrested and charged with threat of terrorism due to the nature of the action despite no clear indication of the crime being committed.

Today many colleges including Norwich University have banned Yik Yak and no longer allow access to the website or app.

Hate speech recently returned to campus with the re-emergence of Yik Yak, a social media platform that allows users to make anonymous posts.

Amy Woodbury Tease, chair of the Department of Global Humanities, recently alerted the department to the development.

“While we cannot change the campus climate alone, we can model kindness and collaboration in our classrooms, and promote a set of shared values that provide support against acts of hostility and discrimination,” she wrote in an early November email.

“I believe that the faculty and staff in our department will continue to set an example for our students and actively work to help mobilize a change in the institutional culture to emphasize inclusivity and belonging and to celebrate diversity,” said Professor Woodbury Tease.

Yik Yak is an app where you can anonymously post thoughts so other people within a five-mile radius can read them. It was banned at Norwich in 2014, so users cannot get access using the Norwich wifi network. But users can easily access it using cellular data.

Norwich University faced the same problem eight years ago when students used the app to cyberbully and make harassing comments, according to a 2014 article in The Guidon.

“Our mission statement declares that Norwich University educates its youth to be ‘moral, patriotic, efficient, and useful citizens,’ the Norwich president at the time, Richard Schneider, wrote in a column for the campus newspaper. “Cyberbullying is immoral, unpatriotic, inefficient, and useful to no one.”

Although school administrators said that the hate speech is taking place on several social media platforms, it appears students are more familiar with Yik Yak content. The posts on that site have recently included racist and threatening behavior towards international students, according to numerous posts reviewed by The Guidon.

Some threads consist of simple complaining, while others directly threaten students’ safety, including a desire to kidnap a student and “declare” war.

‘’It is kinda disturbing for international students because we are new here in Norwich and in Vermont,’’ said Madan Bista, 20, a freshman civilian biology major from Nepal. ‘’When I was in Nepal, I was expecting love from the United States citizens. But now I feel scared.’’

Several international students told The Guidon that they are concerned about their well-being, and they would like a more concrete response from university officials.

“Because I saw those comments, and they were like, ‘You all need to go back to the place you came from,’” said Shristangana Kc, 21, a freshman civilian communications major from Nepal. “If they can say it on social media, then that is their perspective on us, so I don’t feel safe.”

“If the matter worsens, then the police is a good option,” she said. “Because I am afraid.

The Guidon emailed campus security numerous times seeking comment as to whether it was investigating the posts and whether the hate speech activity violated any specific policies or laws, but they did not respond to requests for interviews.