“The Quad at noon looks like they’re filming Planet of the Apes 3.”
This is what I saw when I opened Yik Yak for the first time. A friend had told me that the app was filled with racist and sexist sentiments, but they did not adequately prepare me for what I saw when I downloaded the app.
Yik Yak is a social media app that allows users to post Yaks — short statements about any and all topics — and displays the Yaks posted within a 10-mile radius. The app, which launched in 2013, only became popular on campus within the last year.
Yik Yak has a history of wreaking havoc on campuses where it gains popularity. K-12 school districts across the country have banned the app due to its tendency to create a hot bed of cyberbullying among younger students.
But it’s not just middle and high schools that have attempted to ban the app. Emory University’s Student Government Association tried to have the app banned last year but was forced to back down after immense student backlash.
Last October, Ryan Chapin Mach posted an editorial in The Huffington Post on why college campuses should ban the app. He compared the nasty things said on the app to the scribblings on a public bathroom stall.
“But Yik Yak isn’t like using the restroom,” Mach stated. “In fact, yakking is about 10 times less useful than taking a dump because there isn’t a conceivable situation in which one would ever really need to do it.”
The article advocated for full censorship of Yik Yak and all apps that allow users to post anonymously on college campuses. The backlash was immediate.
Critics of Bach’s argument for censoring the app argued that doing so would violate free speech — the ever-important bastion of people who like to say rude things on the Internet.
Free speech is constitutionally protected. Hate speech is not. During my infrequent glances at the app, I have seen disgusting amounts of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and slut shaming. The app is a constant spew of hate speech, and it’s all being posted by people on this campus.
This app shows there are students on this campus who still equate black people with monkeys. There are people here who believe murder is justifiable if a transgender person doesn’t reveal their biological sex before entering into a relationship. These people gleefully passed around links to a sex tape that involved an LSU student, calling her a whore while doing so.
I don’t want to know that I attend school with these people.
Discrimination runs rampant across LSU’s campus, though students normally save their slurs for when they’re in the company of like-minded people. Yik Yak gives these students a platform to shout their insulting opinions from and get reinforced by the community.
The app itself is not the problem — Yik Yak has a system in place where any post that reaches a net score negative five in the app’s voting system gets deleted. Unfortunately, the most controversial posts are almost always upvoted to the top of the Hot page, where more users then reply, chiming in with their agreement.
If LSU weren’t such a cesspool of ignorance, most of the problematic posts would be gone almost instantly. But they’re not.
I believe adamantly and passionately in every American’s right to free speech. However, I agree with Mach — Yik Yak should be banned from college campuses.
This is not impossible to do. By partnering with a programming company that generates digital maps of almost all middle and high schools in the country, Yik Yak has been able to build a “fence” around these places, disabling the app while on school grounds. This could also be done for any college campus.
The last thing LSU needs is more division, especially at a time when the school should be coming together to fight for its future in the face of impending budget cuts. Yik Yak has become a shining beacon for bigotry and hatred on this campus.
By revealing the true colors of some students, the app makes minority students of all types feel unwelcome. The people that use this app to blast their negative opinions are doing nothing but creating an image of LSU that is hostile towards black people, the LGBT community, women in general and many other groups who are fighting to gain respect.
If LSU wants to continue to attract students, Yik Yak needs to go. Otherwise, this campus’ reputation as unwelcoming will begin to turn away potential students, and the last thing this school needs to do when facing budget cuts is give high schoolers another reason to look past LSU during their college search.
Logan Anderson is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Houston, Texas. You can reach her on Twitter @LoganD_Anderson.