Yik Yak, the latest college form of social media is analyzed below. Why should it be banned?

The Daily Illini reports.

Silencing an issue doesn’t solve the problem

Everything sets on fire all the time — frats, academic buildings, restaurants. Knife-wielding maniacs roam the Quad. Tim Beckman gets fired a few times a week. Everyone is either drunk or hungover all of the time, and fraternity brothers shower together every day.

This doesn’t actually happen, of course, but Yik Yak starts and perpetuates these rumors.

Police officers are forced to spend time monitoring the app; Daily Illini breaking news reporters spend time monitoring the app. We often are forced to call the police and fire departments, listen to police scanners and drive to different locations to see if there are emergency vehicles outside. Normally, this isn’t because of what actually happens, instead, its because of the untrue rumors that the app starts.

Often, these rumors are dangerous, causing students to panic or worry about something that isn’t true and forcing emergency services to spend precious resources chasing and disproving rumors. Many times, the yaks are racist and sexist. Despite the dangers of the app, a university cannot ban its use — despite what some institutions of higher education — including Utica College and Norwich University — are trying to do.

These postings on Yik Yak are often based on misinformation, ignorant and irresponsible, so much so that we felt it was important enough to write an editorial about intelligent use of social media on Oct. 27.

We realize that part of the fun of Yik Yak is anonymous postings, but when these postings make other students feel unsafe or uncomfortable, they harm the campus community.