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EXTROVERT INTROVERT
Thursday, April 25, 2013 Volume 31 Issue 8
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C-spread 8-9 C-spread 8-9
Minneapolis enthusiasm is an all-inclusive movement that is about finding excitement and happiness in the place we live.
-Naomi Borowsky
variety 6
Weather forces indoor practice
sports 15
New era of bullying instigates discussion Twitter account, HHS Confessions, leads administration to promote the fight against social media/cyber bullying By Josh Gallop News Editor
Many submissions to the HHS Confessions account were specifically about students, but some took a general approach to the whole community.
Photo by Ursula Arhart
For students across America, there is a place to tell your deepest darkest secrets and stay anonymous. Twitter and Facebook Confessions pages have sprouted up for schools across the country; multiple accounts were created at HHS this year, with a new one appearing every time an old one was taken down. The tweets from the accounts HHS Confessions and HHS Dirt ranged from mild and complimentary to vulgar and sexually explicit. Tweets called out students for masturbating in various places around school, public urination, and tagged specific
students rumored to be sexually promiscuous or infected with STDs. Some posters have named students who they regret having sex with, using derogatory descriptions. The feeds are also peppered with random admiration for fellow students and teachers. “With things like this, you never know when it’s going to push someone too far. Nine out of ten times the person will just laugh it off, but you never know when someone will be having a rough day and this will set them over the top.” said Ms. Patty Johnson, principal. To ensure anonymity, the accounts have a link to the website SurveyMonkey, where users can answer, “What do you have to confess about HHS?” The creator of these accounts then choose which confessions to post on twitter. Complaints about the disrespect from one student to another were brought forward to administration, according to
Mr. Trenton Lawson, assistant principal. According to the Hopkins School District Bullying Prohibition Policy, “‘Bullying’ means any written or verbal expression, physical act or gesture, or pattern thereof, by a student that is intended to cause or is perceived as causing distress to one or more students and which substantially interferes with another student’s or students’ educational benefits, opportunities, or performance.” While twitter accounts may have fallen under the definition of bullying, the school was unable to take any action. “The problem with social media is it’s not connected to the high school. We try to find out who is responsible but it’s virtually impossible,” said Mr. Trenton Lawson, assistant principal. “There’s not that much that we can do, so we encourage parents and students to make formal complaints to the social media.” Mr. Marshall Tanick, first
amendment attorney, agrees that the school’s authority is limited. “Bullying can take place outside of school and have an effect in school, but unless it has a provable impact, not just hypothetical or possible, the school can not take action,” Tanick said. “The students have broad first amendment rights as long as the host is not affiliated with the school, which in this case I don’t think it is.” According to Tanick, the First Amendment does not protect speech that is defamatory, an invasion of privacy, considered an obscenity, or threatening. The police are rarely involved in incidents like these, but Johnson says she lets the families know they have the right to make a police report if they see fit. “A lot of things might be degrading or demeaning but it doesn’t cross the criminal threshold unless someone is -BULLY continued on page 3
Editorial: Lee’s death brings domestic abuse awareness By Callan Showers Staff Reporter Perhaps you have seen the posters hung up in HHS bathrooms headed: “What Should I Look for in a Boy/Girlfriend?” and “Healthy Relationships.” Although great reading material for a bathroom break, they carry a meaning much more significant. These posters commemorate
16 year-old Anna Hurd, who was murdered by her 17 yearold boyfriend on February 23, 2013 in a suburb of St. Paul. This crime was not committed by a 60 year old, mustached, creeper van driving man. These teens could have gone to our school. In fact, one of HHS’ own students, Kong Meng Lee, junior, was murdered protecting his sister in a domestic alterca-
tion with her husband, as she underwent the process of escaping her marriage inflicted by years of abuse, as reported in The Pioneer Press. According to the Organization of Domestic Violence Statistics, every nine seconds a woman in the US is beaten or raped. The frequency of domestic abuse is unrecognized by most, yet it all starts by an underly-
ing misogynistic nature too apparent in today’s society. Young girls in America grow up being told not to talk to strange men or get in the car with a stranger. Boys receive that message far less often. The impact of abuse on children and teens is devastating and statistically cyclical, meaning that youth who have been domestically abused are more likely to abuse in the future.
Here at HHS, we are not invincible or immune to domestic abuse because we are young. In fact, because we are teenagers, there is really no better time to act. It is time to break the cycle. But the question is: will we? At a school where sex is as common a topic of conversation and piece of gossip as anything. A school where we subject our-LEE continued on page 4
Find a tribute to Kong Meng Lee on page 10