Yik Yak and Racism on Campus

I attended the panel and conversation on Yik Yak on campus and Racism.
Yik Yak is an anonymous social media platform. The event discussed the recent Yik Yak posts that came from people within 10 miles of the campus. Majority of the Yik Yak’s were commenting on African American people on campus and within DC being lazy and useless. I personally did not see the Yik Yak’s as I deleted the app after I was offended by topics discussed related to a student group I am in.

The event began with an introduction from leaders of campus life explaining that the discussion was a place to hear voices. They also apologized for the recent Yik Yaks and said they handled the response from the community. The administration at the event then made us get a partner we did not know and hear how racism on campus has affected them. I was paired with a freshman that told me he was transferring from the racist acts he has faced on campus.

Majority of the audience at the event was African American and have faced racist acts on campus. Majority of the audience was also against the administration and there seeming lack of help or punishment towards those committing the acts of racism.

After the partner activity the floor was open to any questions, comments and opinions that wanted to be shared. The administration spend majority of the time defending themselves from all the negative opinions of out community. Most of the audience was disappointed by the school for promoting diversity, while at the same time not helping to fix issues of racism on campus currently.

The use of social media was discussed widely during the conversation. Most of the audience was agreeable to the horrible results of using Yik Yak on campus. The anonymous forum is basically Twitter without names. It was discussed that the use of no names is weak but can still affect someone. The weakness was explained from those upsets by the messages because they are unable to stand behind there one message. The no name aspect also makes these people in the target group feel unsafe on campus.

Most of the people attending the event have been personally affected and are part of a movement on campus to create diversity and seek to change people’s idea of race. The campaign is grassroots as the community at AU drives it. The members of the community are effective in their approach by spreading the message to student government, the administration and fellow students. They have had several events on campus and have taken advantage of all the media around recent events by directing conversations and events to discuss issues. I would say that these efforts would be more effective if they had a larger following of non African American students.

This movement is proven to be affective with the attention they have gotten recently with the response to the Yik Yaks and student government candidates advocating for classes to talk about race.

Personally I felt ignorant during the entire discussion. I was unaware of the issues on campus but after I heard about the issue from those affected I have been more aware of the issues around me in the last few days. I think that the movement