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Anonymous social media platforms, such as Whisper and Yik Yak, have elicited controversy within the field of education over the past few years. Through the use of such platforms, students can anonymously participate in cyberbullying (Patchin & Hinduja, 2012; Whittaker & Kowalski, 2015). In particular, Yik Yak, which was released at the end of 2013 (and subsequently shut down in April 2017), allowed yakkers (users of the application) to anonymously post and view yaks (posts by users) within a 1.5-mile radius. The platform had reached a valuation of $400+ million, was used on over 1,600 campuses, and has arguably influenced student suicides, suspensions, and threats of violence (Gismondi, 2015; Koenig, 2014; Shontell, 2015; Wagstaff, 2014).
The use of Yik Yak and similar applications as tools to convey discriminatory and insensitive remarks is a conversation that extends far beyond college campuses. For example, during the 2015 NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education annual conference, several attendees yakked what NASPA determined to be hateful posts, which ultimately resulted in the organization’s release of a statement denouncing the posts (Thomason, 2015). Most recently, Eaton and Gismondi (2016) invited student affairs and higher education (SA/HE) practitioners to consider the repercussions of anonymity in digital spaces and to question what can be learned from Yik Yak, including the ability to gauge real-time climate assessments on campus. This latter consideration draws attention not only to the positive and negative impacts of Yik Yak on students’ experiences and their perceptions of campus climate, but also to the roles of SA/HE practitioners in these spaces.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this exploratory case study was to gather undergraduate students’ perceptions of anonymous racist messages found on Yik Yak and to better understand the implications of anonymous platforms on campus racial climate. Given the limited research surrounding students’ use of anonymous social media platforms, as well as the predominant use of quantitative methodologies in measuring aspects of campus climate (Hurtado, Griffin, Arellano, & Cueller, 2008; Rockenbach, Mayhew, & Bowman, 2015), we conducted a qualitative pilot case study with three participants to gather preliminary data on the following research questions:
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1. How do students respond to and think about racist messages found on Yik Yak?
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2. What role, if any, does anonymity play...