by Caroline Seaford
Yik Yak is a social media app founded in 2013, allowing users to post anonymously on forums based on a particular location or subject area. It soon became quite popular on college and university campuses for its ease of use, particularly the ability to “call out” or speak on subjects behind a phone screen, without it being attached to your name or persona. After being banned in 2015 due to rampant bullying, it returned to campuses in 2017, garnering a revival of such popularity to solicit coverage by the New York Times in the same year (“The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App,” Valeriya Safronova).
Centre College is no stranger to the popularity of Yik Yak. With almost one hundred posts a day, covering subjects such as roommate problems, sexual exploits, campus jokes, and people seeking advice, there is no limit to what can or cannot be posted.
I committed to Centre College in April of 2024, and the first thing I did after paying my deposit was join the school’s Yik Yak. To me, it was important to throw myself directly into the campus community, because as compared to big state schools, this was the easiest way for me to get an honest depiction of campus life. For my friends who had committed to bigger schools, these larger institutions even have Instagram pages dedicated to sharing the most famous Yak Yak posts of the week. These accounts garner thousands of likes and shares, even beyond the school’s campus. This highlights Yik Yak’s ability to transcend just the immediate campus culture, but student life around the country.
With a school email, you can automatically join the online community of students in your school, and I was not the only student to do so. It provides an initial introduction to the culture of the school, especially what problems, issues, or praises current students have about the campus. In the spring of last year, the adoption of a new housing system caused an uproar on the Centre College campus, and through Yik Yak, I had a front row seat to students’ complaints, rants about inequality, and the overall request to the administration to listen to what students had to say. It was quite eye-opening to say the least, and, although it did not change my mind about my future, it did put things into perspective.
Fast forward several months, and I was on campus as an official first-year student. During the first couple of hours I was here, my new friends and I hosted competitions on who could get the most upvotes, who could produce the funniest anecdote, and so much more. It was the easiest way for new students to get involved on campus, even electronically, and to find out what makes the campus community tick.
There is no shortage of micro-celebrities who have fashioned a “persona” for themselves, such as “Big Yerppp.” Whoever they are, they regularly post to a fanbase of cult-like followers, with statements on campus life or memes, and there have been plenty of times where I have wondered if I have passed this “Big Yerppp” unknowingly.
Also, there are many students who get “Yik-Yakked” about (yes, it is a verb) regularly, such as “Cha-Cha,” the “guy who drank milk in the library,” or the “guy who sleeps in Olin.” These students were regular students one day, and recognizable campus celebrities the next.
Through the never-ending coursework, expectations of choosing a major, planning your life, and extracurriculars, Yik Yak serves as an incessant form of entertainment and a place to share concerns or even mundane annoyances.
Unlike the forums of Ancient Rome, it is an electronic domain for students to get connected in ways they otherwise would not and to share annoyances behind an anonymous figurehead and express yourself.
With recent events, such as the “shutting-down” of on-campus parties at Brockman Commons, and the “non-party shutdowns” which were clearly gatherings without alcohol, which aggravated students. Especially when it became apparent there was an administration and faculty assumed presence on Yik Yak. While one can acknowledge the possible issues with anonymity, especially as a way for one to bully and harass groups on campus from behind a phone screen, that is possible in more ways than just one. If a student is committed to harassment, Yik Yak is not the only platform they will use, and frankly, I have not seen it yet. It is, and should stay, solely and wholeheartedly a student-space for student connection, facetious comments about student-life, and an electronic guide to events on campus. Administrative presence destroys the whole purpose of Yik Yak, removing the uncensored vision of campus. Restriction of student thought is inevitably what creates an isolated student body, especially in a state of present social isolation post-pandemic. Yik Yak provides an essential service for students across the country, and the small-size of our campus should not inhibit the freedom of speech students deserve.
Here is a shout out to the posts on Yik Yak that make me laugh when I should be “locking-in” on the paper that is making me cry. Thank you to the people who post about hallway crushes and those people who are so gorgeous you hate them. We all have those times where you tripped on the sidewalk outside of Young, yelled at for talking too loud in the library, embarrassed yourself in-front of your hallway crush, or talked bad about someone in front of them (they are right behind me, aren’t they?) It revitalizes the beauty of our campus, and further connects people to one another through shared experiences.
These posts, as “small” or “useless” as some adults might think, create a unified culture of Centre College. There is something beautiful about a space for limitless student expression, all students ask is for administration to allow for that space to flourish.