By ABIGAIL HEINEMEYER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
After Chancellor Phyllis Wise refused to close school on Jan. 26, U of Illinois students took to social media to voice their opinions; others expressed support. (Samuel Joseph/The Ram)
Our generation is no stranger to the amazing capabilities of technology. We have been privileged to have been born in the midst of a technological revolution and to grow up with amazing tools and resources.
However, like all good things, there are several downsides. I am not just talking about having to listen to our elders lecture us about how easy it is for us now compared to the difficulties of the “old days.” I am talking about the rise of what some have come to call “cyberbullying” or “digital hate.”
It seems that every day there is another story about an individual being incessantly harassed via text, social media or email. Often, people associate this situation with a younger age group, specifically middle and high schoolers. However, this issue does not end with a high school diploma. College campuses are just as prone to this ever-growing trend.
The American Educational Research Association’s, AERA, 2013 publication “Prevention of Bullying in Schools, Colleges, and Universities” found that “70 percent of students who have been bullied in elementary or high school are also bullied in college.” In terms of cyberbullying, the AERA states that “11 percent of students have experienced cyberbullying at college.” While students are often times the targets of such attacks, they are not the sole victims.
The most recent of these occurrences to make national headlines took place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On Jan. 26, Phyllis Wise, the university’s chancellor, announced to the student body that, although frigid temperatures were forecasted, classes would continue the following Monday.
With such a simple and routine statement came a flood of incredulous responses. Newsfeeds at U of I blew up with hateful tweets, derogatory comments that were both racist and sexist and several trending hashtags that cannot and should not be republished. Social media suddenly took a sharp turn against Wise all because of her decision to continue with Monday’s classes.
This case is an exception. Inappropriate internet activity in colleges usually does not gain much attention either because the incidents are not reported or simply not considered to be a priority. Many people think that, as adults, college students should be able to control themselves. To be perfectly honest, I completely agree.
I have been at Fordham for just over a semester and, in this short time, have yet to see anything more than the occasional complaint about getting a wrong lunch order. However, I am not naive enough to believe that Fordham’s campus — or any campus for that matter — is free from this type of digital hate.
But, there is no reason for behavior like this, which is both juvenile and degrading. This holds especially true at a Jesuit university such as Fordham, whose mission statement states that the school “fosters the intellectual, moral and religious development of its students and prepares them for leadership in a global society.”
If we want to consider ourselves responsible citizens in this global society, we need to make responsible decisions regarding what we choose to publish. Our digital presence in social media affects how others view us.
Following the inappropriate cyber behavior at U of I, Chancellor Wise released a public letter, appropriately titled “Moving Past Digital Hate.” She addressed multiple issues in her statement and made several valid points. One such is that, “of all places, a university should be home to diverse ideas and differing perspectives, where robust — and even intense — debate and disagreement are welcomed.”
We, as students, make up the tone of our school. It is up to us to decide how meaningful the debate will be.
Abigail Heinemeyer, FCRH ’17, is a Communication and Media Studies major from Bethel, Conn.
