By ZACAHRY OLSAVICKY
Opinion Editor
With Valentine’s Day a week away and Christmas not too far in the rear-view mirror, we’re at a point in the calendar year attuned to sending good vibes. The Saint Rose community had its own boost of kindness with Saint Rose Compliments, the Facebook page devoted to anonymous cheer, but its recent closure left students without a positive outlet for that brand of kindness.
In its wake, a number of copycat pages opened up on Facebook, not all with kind-hearted intentions. The most popular alternative was Saint Rose Confessions, which shared more inappropriate and absurd secrets with its followers. The page was almost shut down, and it petered out towards the end of April. But the past week saw a version of Saint Rose Confessions re-appear on Twitter, allowing people to drop anonymous comments on an ask.fm page for sharing with the community at large.
I’ll spare all a sampling of the comments; needless to say, many deal in innuendo and only a few seem genuine. The guidelines for moderation aren’t apparent—a few brief tweets exist regarding inappropriate matter but, based on the content already on the page, I shudder to think about what is considered inappropriate. It’s also hard to get a sense of the motivation behind the page’s operator—are they trying to have a good time, or are they trying to get dirt on students who go here?
At a school whose most famous alumnus is Jimmy Fallon, it’s understandable that some students would look at themselves as great comedians. But the confessions aren’t funny in the slightest—they only make the school look bad and bring out the worst in students.
A little over 550 people follow the account, which is surprising after the success and praise of the positivity seen in the Compliments page. It’s a far call from last March, when the Compliments page drew rave reviews from students for its power in being positive. Instead of rejecting the crassness and negativity, many of the same students who embraced the Compliments page have embraced the dark-natured Confessions. Our young minds can be inconsistent, but even this seems like a clear-cut case of what’s wrong and what’s right.
What might be most disappointing is looking at the page’s list of followers and seeing school staff following the account. There aren’t many staff members following the page—the ones I recognize I can count on one hand—but seeing a Saint Rose employee follow the page is a tacit endorsement of its content. It’s understandable that younger people would be drawn to commentary like this, but staff and administrators who follow the page ought to know better.
Hopefully, those who do know better will make efforts to close the account. Social media presence is crucial for an institution like Saint Rose, and the account, with a profile picture that looks school-owned, could easily be confused with school-sponsored content. The page lacks the openness seen in the Compliments page, and its humor is senseless. Though the College probably has bigger fish to fry, it would be a good use of resources to try and close the page.
Additionally, it would be wonderful if the original Saint Rose Compliments page could re-open on Facebook. The original manager had good reason to close the page, but it would be nice if a new student (or even a school employee) could give it a fresh start. Maybe if people were reminded of the good that kindness creates, they would be less inclined to confess their lesser thoughts.
