Sounds like some members of the student body need to do some growing up.

Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed reports.

Snow Hate

Students (and plenty of professors) love snow days. But when they can’t get what they want, is that any reason for a blizzard of hate on Twitter?

That is among the questions raised by the reaction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when Phyllis M. Wise, the chancellor, opted to keep classes as scheduled Monday, despite extremely cold weather. That some students would take to Twitter to gripe is not shocking. But a flurry of comments focused either on Wise’s status as a woman, as an Asian-American or both. The hashtag of choice: #fuckphyllis

Among the Tweets (skipping the most offensive) using the hashtag: “In room with Phyllis Wise, Adolf Hitler and a gun with one bullet. Who do I shoot.” Many tweets played off Wise’s Asian-American status. “Communist China no stop by cold,” for example.

Or “Asians and women aren’t responsible for their actions” or “Phyllis Wise is the Kim Jong Un of chancellors.” Many others referenced the female anatomy, or used additional hashtags, such as a vulgar four-letter word for a part of a woman’s anatomy. At least two Twitter accounts pretending to be Wise’s were created and proceeded to mock her, although they were promptly removed by Twitter.

As the day went on, many others (also using the main hashtag to critique Wise) started to express anger and embarrassment that some at the university would respond to Wise’s decision in offensive ways.

Wise, a spokeswoman said, quickly became aware of the debate not because she follows Twitter but because so many people sent her email to offer support. Someone sent a bouquet to her office. She went about her normal business for the day, and didn’t comment. A spokeswoman said that the campus judicial officer looked at the tweets and determined they were protected free expression, and so no attempt is planned to punish those who tweeted.