Today’s Guest Column
With the ever-increasing importance the Internet has in our everyday lives, online media have become huge outlets for schools and prospective students to use to learn about one another. Many graduating high school students look to the Internet for information on where to study for the next four years. So this university’s administration should be concerned when looking at the recent crop of student-run Twitter accounts using the university’s name.
The first of these student-run accounts is @UMDConfessions, which became popular in the beginning of the spring semester. This account advertises its anonymity for those who submit their “confessions” and posts mostly vague and unspecific tweets. While some of them could be viewed as harsh or aggressive, they are rarely targeted at a certain person.
As with most social fads, @UMDConfessions was quick to see imitators. @TerpCrushes has seen huge popularity since its inception. This Twitter account is similar in the anonymity for those submitting the tweets but is uncensored when it comes to the subjects. Many of the tweets are sexual and focused at specific people, in many cases naming them personally.
The latest of these Twitter sensations was @UMD_BurnBook, before it was apparently deleted. Administrators for this account bragged that they would post anything and everything. They even went so far as to ask for the most brutal and aggressive of posts. Names of the burn book victims were to be posted with nothing held back. This was obviously the account that had the most chance of negative consequences for the university.
This type of media presence could have lasting negative effects for the university if prospective students, or parents of students, see these accounts as unbecoming. While I cannot say I would make a decision on a school based on this knowledge, I would certainly question a student body that has such little regard for one another as classmates and, in some cases, humans.
College, to me, is as much about the connections and relationships that can be forged as it is about education. Why would someone want to attempt to forge relationships or connections with a group of perceived gossipers and slanderers?
The First Amendment and disclaimers on the Twitter accounts’ pages prevent the administration from having any real say in the content being shown. It would be a possibly sticky situation for school officials to attempt to put an end to this trend. The repercussions of any type of legal battle over freedom of speech could have lasting negative effects, possibly larger than those associated with gossip Twitter pages.
While these anonymous accounts can be entertaining and good for a laugh now and then, we must ask ourselves if the good outweighs the possibilities of the bad. Even if the administration has little authority over this subject, we as students can take a stand and show those around us that we care more about our school and fellow Terps than we do about gossip. I believe we can be a positive impact on our school, and this is an opportunity to do so.
David Stroh is a senior English major. He can be reached at Davestroh11@gmail.com.
