{"id":138082,"date":"2016-02-04T15:57:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T20:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=138082"},"modified":"2016-02-09T10:51:47","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T15:51:47","slug":"student-gathering-responds-to-president-seligmans-decision-on-yik-yak-138082","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/student-gathering-responds-to-president-seligmans-decision-on-yik-yak-138082\/","title":{"rendered":"Students gather in response to Yik Yak decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, Feb. 4, about 30 students gathered on the steps of Rush Rhees Library on the River Campus\u2014some walking out of class\u2014to address University President and CEO Joel Seligman\u2019s recent response<\/a><\/strong> to an interim report issued by the University\u2019s Presidential Commission on Race and Diversity.<\/p>\n

The main focus of the gathering was the president\u2019s decision not to ban the social media app Yik Yak from the University\u2019s servers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom of expression must not be confused with hate speech,\u201d said Sequoia Kemp \u201816, president of the Black Students’ Union, in response to Seligman\u2019s statement that banning Yik Yak from the University\u2019s WiFi networks would undercut the rights of both students and faculty.<\/p>\n

During the 20-minute gathering, Simone Johnson \u201917, vice president of the Black Students\u2019 Union, read aloud the student\u2019s previous list of demands in connection with Seligman\u2019s subsequent responses. \u201cNot all of our demands have been addressed,\u201d said Johnson, who told the group that they are currently drafting an official response to the report.<\/p>\n

The meeting ended with students taking a moment of silence to reflect on how far they have come on this issue, and how far they have yet to go.<\/p>\n

The Presidential Commission on Race and Diversity<\/a><\/strong> was established this past November by Seligman in response to a three-page petition and list of demands students felt addressed the racial climate on campus. One of the main topics of concern was the use of Yik Yak where people previously posted threatening and racist comments.<\/p>\n

Seligman believes a ban would reduce the University\u2019s ability to hold individuals \u201cpersonally accountable for their hateful messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his statement that went out to the campus community on Feb. 3, Seligman accepted several of the Commission\u2019s initial recommendations and stated that further recommendations will be made in a final report once all faculty, staff, and student surveys are completed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students assembled in front of Rush Rhees Library just before noon after staging a walkout to protest University President Joel Seligman’s decision to not ban the social media app Yik Yak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":138092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28422],"class_list":["post-138082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-presidential-commission-on-race-and-diversity"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStudents gather in response to Yik Yak decision<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/student-gathering-responds-to-president-seligmans-decision-on-yik-yak-138082\/\" \/>\n<meta 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