COLLEGE: TWITTER FEED OFFENDED STUDENTS
Patrick J. Lawlor, ’13, Editor in Chief
Merrimack Crushes — a Twitter account that listed the fantasies and crushes between students — was taken down late last week after the college said it would punish students involved in the site.
In an email to student leaders, orientation leaders, resident advisors and athletes, college officials asked students who follow the Merrimack Crushes account “unfollow” the account as to not support or condone its tweets.
The Twitter account was taken down last week. But the attempt to control and influence the content by which a student can view on Twitter was criticized by many, raising questions as to how far the college could go in content control.
The college, however, said that students who were offended by some tweets came forward to administrators. “This is an institution that cares about people and is made up of people that care about each other,” said Jeff Doggett, President Christopher Hopey’s chief of staff.
He said the college wants people to feel safe. “The college community will always have an expectation that people are kind, and we all have a right to not feel harassed,” Doggett said.
“It’s strange when colleges resort to censorship first, when education is what they’re good at,” Adam Goldstein an attorney with the Student Press Law Center told The Beacon. The center is a nonprofit legal assistance agency devoted to educating student journalists about rights and responsibilities. “This is a mild form of censorship, but it’s legal,” said Goldstein.
