4 CAMPUS NEWS
Red & Black
12 april 2022
W&J Yik Yak Breeds Cruelty & Camaraderie Government Association (SGA) thing to go after individuals. President Cole Leathers (’22) Both are bad, but this was taking eventually sent an email to it too far,” Leathers said. Red & Black student leaders “encouraging Leathers brought the app MANAGING EDITOR compassion and thoughtful use to the attention of Chatterjeeof social media platforms like Sutton and Assistant Dean During the 2021 Fall Semester, Yik Yak,” Chatterjee-Sutton of Students, Justin Swank. Leathers said that it had become social media application “Yik said. Leathers says problematic a problem that they were “both Yak” became a dominant form of communication among and potentially hurtful content ready to discuss.” Dean Chatterjee-Sutton students at W&J. The app first came to his attention in encourages anonymity through removing messages and posts that are attributed to a specific name. Those who post, called “yakkers,” are not the only people who have access to the app – anyone within a 5 mile radius of a post can view and create a message, thereby extending the post reach to various audiences. Yik Yak first emerged on college campuses in 2017; W&J promptly “removed” YikYak, Dean of Students Eva ChatterjeeSutton said. In the past, students have used the app to make targeted and racist threats and to spread misinformation about Courtesy YikYak.com shootings and violence on Yik Yak’s company website includes their logo and their tagline. campuses, leading to student arrests at Iowa State University, Leathers’ Mississippi’s Jones County October of 2021 as some of the corroborated Junior College, and Louisiana comments moved from targeting statements, adding that she larger campus organizations “shared this [concerning State University. and student organizations to comments on Yik Yak] with As the popularity of the app grew in 2021, some professors individuals within such groups. colleagues, talked with SGA “It’s one thing to go after leadership and worked with discouraged the use of the app in classrooms. Student sororities, it’s a whole other ITS to place a block on student’s AKANSHA DAS
ability to access Yik Yak via the college server.” The block of Yik Yak on college computers was ultimately removed after a couple of weeks because of issues it was causing with Web Advisor access, Dean Chatterjee-Sutton said. “During the time that the block was in place, anyone accessing Yik Yak had to do so on their “personal data plans” she said. This ban of Yik Yak on school Wi-Fi has been mirrored by schools across the country – including Oklahoma Christian University and Vermont’s Norwich University. Yet this action has garnered opposition from free speech advocates across the country and even some W&J students. A W&J sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous, said administration had an unfair bias placed on Yik Yak as opposed to other social media platforms and that administration does not have the “jurisdiction” over what students say on the app. “It’s not school sanctioned and I can post whatever I want on Instagram. If they’re not trying to mess with Insta [Instagram] or snap [Snapchat], they can’t mess with Yik Yak,” she said.
