Graphic by Brianna Stockwell ’28
By Abby Paull ’28
Staff Writer
“I will honor myself, my fellow students and Mount Holyoke College by acting responsibly, honestly and respectfully in both my words and deeds.” For those who are not aware, this is the Mount Holyoke College Honor Code pledge. Students during their first year are expected to sign the honor code in order to show their commitment to the school’s ideals. It was put in place to hold the students of Mount Holyoke to a certain standard that reflects the College. But due to the rise of anonymous social media apps, students are no longer able to be held accountable for breaking certain aspects of the code. The only way we can prevent this in the future is to get rid of this pathetic anonymity.
Fizz is an app that allows Mount Holyoke students to sign up through their school email and post their thoughts anonymously, similar to apps such as the University of Massachusetts’ Yikyak or Smith College’s Confesh. The problem with Fizz is its anonymity; allowing students to engage with each other namelessly gives them the opportunity to cyberbully each other without consequence.
Over my first year, I saw Fizz users express Islamophobic, antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic sentiments. And, Fizz doesn’t have a limit on how much you can post, making it possible for these controversial comments to be created by one student or a collective of like-minded students. The effect of this is that it floods the app with these comments, setting a standard for the conversations the students are having, and distorting the overall image people have of the campus community
One may argue that the app’s anonymity is actually helpful because it allows students to share resources and ask questions about campus they might’ve not been able to or comfortable doing before. One student can ask another the easiest way to get back to Mount Holyoke from Smith on a weekend. Though this is helpful, it is few and far between. More often, Fizz being anonymous allows students to ragebait each other and target individual students without consequence from the school.
The Honor Code tells us that: “A Mount Holyoke student demonstrates their respect for individual freedom by conducting themselves with maturity and honor, and by showing due concern for the welfare of other members of the community.” I ask this question: How are Fizz and other anonymous apps helping the welfare of the community? To help the welfare of the community, we should work on students being able to respectfully confront people and communicate instead of brewing hatred and letting it explode online.
It is urgent that we hold students at Mount Holyoke up to the standard of The Honor Code. Hiding behind anonymity creates the opportunity for ragebaiting, discrimination and bullying to come into the community. There is enough discourse outside our college. If you as a student are going to use your Mount Holyoke College email to spew hatred about your community that you CHOSE to be a part of, you owe it to your fellow students to reveal who is spewing that nonsense.
The College’s community fears confrontation, and some believe that anonymous platforms such as Fizz will heal our ailments. But what good will getting into an argument with your classmate online do for your mental health? I urge the Mount Holyoke community to address this and find different ways to express their emotions.
Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact checking.