It begins as all online harassment does; four anonymous social media posts were shared on the platform Yik Yak recently, mocking women on topics such as physical appearance and disdainful jokes regarding sexual assault. Unfortunately, the inflictions of harassment did not yield when these people proceeded to threaten any protester who wished to participate in last Thursday’s student-led protest.
Victims of sexual assault should not be made to feel victims again with unnecessary hatred and threats made against their right to speak their truth. Peaceful protests are protected under a student’s First Amendment right. To fear potential threats and possible violence because of a desire to join an impactful and protected protest should not be something students should have to worry about. The individual(s) who made the said threats have not been identified yet because of the app’s anonymity feature. However, it should not remain that way.
Even if the threats are being made anonymously, they are threats nonetheless. As threats made possibly by students against students, the university should first make students aware of their right to know followed by an in-depth investigation using possible leads given by students’ alleged claims. The university already lacks the timely action of alerting its students of anything that is deemed unsafe or that students should raise concerns over.
Texas A&M University-Kingsville should investigate and discipline the perpetrators of these anonymous attacks as their actions are against Yik Yak’s and TAMUK’s guidelines. In 2021, Yik Yak moderators reported a college student to Lancaster County police authorities as they posted terroristic threats toward a political figure. Therefore, although people are anonymous to each other on the app, Yik Yak can determine the identity of the harasser if they break their guidelines. With campus UPD using this information over Yik Yak’s policy to its advantage, more survivors could find the courage to report the dreadful deeds occurring and campus would be a safer place, not just for women but for every Javelina.
This would not cost any money; it would just cost the university’s time. And, after everything that has occurred as of late, students deserve this decency, at the least.
