Gustavus, students are criticizing Yik Yak and the students for their harassment and malice after the introduction of Female Power Hour in Lund and the Building Bridge’s conference this past weekend.

Yik Yak is flourishing through college campuses. According to Time Magazine, it is available on around 1,500 college campuses and according to one of the founders, is meant for people over the age of 18 since it “requires a certain level of maturity.”

At Gustavus, students are questioning the maturity of fellow classmates who are using Yik Yak as a form of anonymous harassment.

In the media, Yaks are often compared to nasty notes scrawled on the bathroom wall: one person wrote it, some people are talking about it, but everyone saw it.

A Huffington Post Journalist claimed recently that our reactions to these Yaks are procedural. First, we express disgust for hurtful posts. We then turn to social media to make it known, and then the administrations of colleges reveal that they disapprove of the violent speech on Yik Yak. Then, there is dialogue throughout the campus in order to make a change, and the cycle starts over.

This vicious cycle has caused a stir and many people have expressed the desire for permanently banning Yik Yak and any other anonymous forums at Gustavus.

Elizabeth Long of Atlanta Georgia started a petition to shut down Yik Yak on Change.org that has over 78,000 supporters. On the petition page, Long states that the ridicule of people and urges towards suicide are “beyond unacceptable, and it is time that we stand up and do something about it before a life is senselessly lost because of this app.”

New York Times interviewed Matt Ivester, founder of JuicyCampus, an anonymous college message board, who shut down his creation after it became a hotbed of gossip and cruelty. He criticized creators of Yik Yak by stating,  “You can pretend that it is serving an important role on college campuses, but you can’t pretend that it’s not upsetting a lot of people and doing a lot of damage,” Ivester said. “When I started JuicyCampus, cyberbullying wasn’t even a word in our vernacular. But these guys should know better.”

“Yik Yak isn’t the main issue. It’s a symptom of the issue. Yik Yak has been a problem on Campus for a long time and this is just the tipping point,” Building Bridges Member who wishes to stay anonymous said.

With hostility towards specific genders and groups on campus flourishing through the app, Student Senate brought the issue to attention at this weeks meeting. Some members of Building Bridges attended Monday’s Student Senate meeting with signs proclaiming the existence of rape culture in college communities, in response to Yaks claiming otherwise.

Student Senate brought forth a resolution to the floor of Senate and explained the intention of the resolution.

“We wanted to convey that we acknowledge the alarming comments, that we found it imperative to uphold our first charge as a governing body in the Student Senate Constitution, that we know that Yik Yak is not used entirely for ill purposes, but also insist that in remaining silent and doing nothing, we continue to be bystanders in a system that makes intervention extremely difficult,” Student Senate Co-President Matt Timmons said.

According to Student Senate, the resolution simply states that Student Senate recognizes injustice and hatred on Yik Yak and must stand in opposition.  They made it clear that they are not arguing that students stop using the app, nor that it should be banned.

“What we wished to communicate is that offense or injustice perpetrated in anonymity is simply wrong.  It allows witnesses few opportunities for recourse.  It does not uphold our core values of Justice, Excellence, or Community,” Timmons said.

Students who held signs at the Student Senate meeting claimed that Yik Yak threatened their safety.

“It cannot be ignored anymore,” an anonymous Building Bridges member said.

With this concern, administration has seemed to respond by organizing “Free Speech, Social Media, and Creating Conversations” meeting on Friday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the Gustavus Adolphus College Banquet room.

-Haley Bell