It has been a hell of a news week. 

If you have not been paying attention to the Slate in the last week, we have published stories about the interim suspension of Theta Xi and a student who was arrested twice on campus. I did the majority of writing for both of those pieces, so I have been paying attention to the response on YikYak. 

Needless to say, there were very mixed reviews. Many comments were glad that the allegations were being reported and speculated that there are many hazing instances that go unreported. Others were highly critical of the fact that The Slate chose to use comments from YikYak, which is anonymous, as a source for a news story. 

One comment has remained particularly close to my heart and has now been printed and taped to my desk in The Slate office: “maybe the author just likes to start drama before the truth is known.” Personally, this is correct. I am a big fan of drama. Professionally, however, I am competent enough to know the difference between rumors and verified information. 

If we had written that story entirely based on YikYak comments and not gotten comments from Megan Silverstrim, director of SU communications and marketing, then the story would be based on rumors. We verified that the hazing allegations were under investigation by the university and a related assault was being investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police. Those are not rumors. 

I do not care if fraternity brothers would prefer to haze without it being exposed, and I certainly do not care to hear lessons on journalism ethics from anyone who gets news from TikTok. 

Since the Theta Xi allegations broke, I have had conversations with individuals who shared allegations against multiple other fraternities and sororities on campus, so I will be continuing to ask critical questions of Greek life. 

YikYak serves as a modern day “water cooler.” When so many in our student body refuse to say things with their chest and will only talk on YikYak, we will use the app as a source for potential stories. When dozens of people are commenting about the same allegations, odds are that there is some weight to the claims. If there had been no validity behind any of the comments, we would have either gotten no response from the university or been told there was no investigation. 

Many of the same concerns apply to the story we published Wednesday morning about an SU student who was arrested and forcibly removed from McLean Hall earlier this month. This did not  get as much traction on YikYak, but it quickly became our top story on the website and gained our Instagram account about 20 new followers. 

Before we did any research, I received a direct message on my personal Instagram account asking that The Slate not report on the McLean incident because it was a “private matter.” This is a public university, videos were posted to social media and there were public records about the incident and following court proceedings. Nothing about this was private. 

Once the story went live, I heard through the grapevine that members of the Housing and Residence Life office did not think I should have written that story. As a resident assistant, I am inclined to believe these individuals do not think I can distinguish between my role as a student journalist and a housing employee. 

I will never let any story be ignored simply because it involves housing or admissions, two offices on campus for which I work. The job of a journalist is to separate personal beliefs from facts. Other people may not be able to process that, but I can. 

As a fellow student media organization made of students who have taken many of the same classes that I have, I am surprised by SUTV’s decision to not include the Theta Xi or arrested student stories in last week’s broadcast, which were undoubtedly the biggest news of the week. Theta Xi is on the budget for this week, but to not report it until 10 days after the story breaks is highly questionable. If this was a major national story like an election, surely you would not wait  days to report the results? 

My concentration is not broadcast media, but I would imagine that being able to incorporate breaking news into a broadcast is an essential skill. I certainly am not expecting SUTV to do everything The Slate does, but it is rare for campus to have such a heavy news week, and student media groups need to take advantage of those opportunities. 

Nonetheless, a vibrant student newspaper is an essential part of a healthy college campus: imagine a world where all news actually was entirely based on YikYak rumors. 

The Slate’s budget continues to get cut by the Student Government Association (SGA), but weeks like this show us the relevance we can still have when significant campus news breaks. Good, bad or ugly, we are not going anywhere. 

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