A shadow of black t-shirt-clad faculty and students rallied in front of Maucker Union Thursday at noon to support students who were victimized by recent anonymous posts on an application called Yik Yak. These posts expressed racist, sexist and homophobic sentiments.

On Thursday, several organizations came together on the University of Northern Iowa campus in was known as the Day of Solidarity. They took a stand against the perpetrators of these anonymous posts.

“Personally, I can’t believe someone has the audacity  to go on these anonymous social platform and post these hateful things.” said Zane Phillips, senior interactive digital studies major. “People don’t understand what they’re saying . . . what it does and how it really affects people.”

Stephanie Logan, curriculum and instruction assistant professor, said a group of colleagues in the college of education and women and gender studies department formed an idea to have a Day of Solidarity to show faculty and staff they were offended by the Yik Yak posts.

“As a faculty of color, I’m like, ‘could this have been my students? Could these be the young persons that sit before me?’” Logan said.

When she first found out about the Yik Yak posts, Kirsten Linney, applied human sciences instructor, felt shocked and angered that students could post statuses anonymously and get away with it. To stand up for the victimized students, Linney attended the Day of Solidarity to send a message to perpetrators what they did was not right or appropriate.

Linney, who teaches a first-year students-only course, surveyed her students about the posts and found out many students were not aware of the posts.

“Many were not even aware of the issue, which maybe is ok they weren’t directly affected by it, but many of them maybe should be aware of what happened,” Linney said.

As a parent, Linney feels it is her duty to teach her children lessons which have come from the Yik Yak posts.

“This is definitely a lesson that they’re going to learn: tolerance, acceptance, understanding,” Linney said.

UNI’s President William Ruud, who attended the Day of Solidarity, saw the amount of support students and faculty showed at the event and hopes that on a daily basis we continue to be a UNI family.

“Let students know that from the top down and the bottom up of this organization we support them in all that they do,” Ruud said.

Some students who had the Yik Yak application on their phones decided to delete it after posts about UNI were made. 

Shannon Betzer, grad student of leisure, youth and human services major, said she deleted the app because it was pointless to have an app in which people could post inappropriate things.    “People don’t have a right to tear other people down,” Betzer said. “It’s unbelievable because you think you’re at a time where things are actually changing.”

Logan said it was great to see students who were not personally victimized by the posts come out to support those who were.

“We may not have all the answers, but we’re willing to go through it with you to find the answers,” Logan said.