Madeleine McCormick | News Co-Editor

Last week, President Moore and a few of his colleagues held open forum meetings within the BVU residence halls to discuss prioritization and other topics that students felt needed to be addressed. Among these topics was one that has proven itself a high priority in the recent weeks for the BVU community; Yik Yak.

Yik Yak, a social media site comparable to an anonymous Twitter, has been giving students the opportunity to say whatever they please. To many, the power of being anonymous allows them to hide behind the site and not have to face the repercussions that could follow for posting something that is considered harassing behavior.

Because of the bullying that has been brought on by Yik Yak, many ideas were posed debating the resolution to this problem and among these resolutions was to ultimately ban the site from the server.

However, Dean of Students, Dale Scully, says that the problem is not the social media site, but rather the harsh nature of the students themselves.

“The issue is not Yik Yak, the issue is harassing behavior. And what we really want is our students, and our staff, and our faculty, and our coaches, and the members of our community to take a long look at this and say what does it mean to live in a community where this type of harassment is occurring and tends to be occurring regularly, and how can all of us stand up in support of those that are being harassed and being bullied on these sites such as Yik Yak?” Scully said.

Scully poses an interesting question to the BVU community and many have responded with questions of maturity and responsibility among the students.

He also believes that the resolution to this problem is encouraging positive behavior among student leadership groups. He hopes that groups such as SAB, Student Senate, Residence Life, Impact, and Student M.O.V.E. will advocate for those being harassed using this media outlet.

“We as an institution would prefer that approach, rather than just closing it down (because) at the end of the day, I don’t think that gets to the heart of the problem. The problem is people that feel comfortable harassing and intentionally harming others,” Scully said.

Scully wants everyone in the community to understand that the president, his cabinet, and the university as a whole takes harassment and bullying very seriously and that they will do everything they can to assist the victims of this and to be a voice for those who feel they aren’t being heard.

Graphic by Kyle Shade