Disclaimer: I am not talking about those who use anonymous forums in order to educate others or actually talk about important events that impact campus life or policy change. I am talking about a specific group of people who are trying to cause issues and spread hate on campuses.

College campuses have recently gotten into the habit of using apps like YikYak, anonymous forms that allow students to get away with saying whatever they want, wether it be racist, homophobic, transphobic, or etc. without receiving any kind of repercussions.

This is a huge issue for several reasons of course and one of the biggest reasons is how easy it is to promote hate on a campus in the guise of “solidarity of beliefs." Beliefs that are not being talked about in cautious and careful manners. Beliefs that are not open for discussion, even though discussion is how we as a society can change a world. Anonymity allows us to be honest, but it also allows us to be ignorant.

It’s easy to hate someone when they don’t have a face. When you don’t have to look them in the eye, or see the emotional registration that is a result of how your words impact them.

This is not an attempt to find a “solidarity of beliefs,” it a cowardice tactic for someone to stay ignorant and hard-headed on things they aren’t willing to understand.

Anonymity is supposed to give a voice to those who are too scared to speak because of the oppressions they face everyday. It is supposed to help people of color and other minorities to allow the majority to understand their sides of the story. However, in this case, anonymous forms are allowing abusers to take control of campus life and promote potential violence, whether verbally, physically, or in some cases, sexually.

It’s scary enough to be in the real world as a minority group. As a non-binary queer person I know that it is hard to deal with the idea that anyone anywhere could be ready to strike you, in any form. However, it’s scarier when you have to witness it in close proximity, and you have no way to put a face to who’s speaking. Living on a campus of less than a thousand students, this is incredibly hard. I do not know who is safe to be around because I know of the majority of upvotes on certain posts about how I shouldn’t be going to this school, or how we should “Make Hollins Straight Again."

If this is happening on one campus, than I can guarantee it is happening on multiple campuses. The best way for us as a community is to create open forums of discussion with moderators on campus to talk about heated controversial issues, rather than hid behind a screen.