The Attack on Social Media

By Malissa Close           

Violence on college campuses is on the rise and during the last two weeks alone there have been several shootings and deaths involving college students on different campuses across the country.           

John Sanderson was shot and killed March 24 in a dormitory on the campus of Mississippi State University. Nolan Ryan Henderson, a freshman at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., was shot in the face March 25, accidently after an alleged altercation with the some of the football players at an off campus pool party, and a shooting at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., where seven students were left dead. BSU has also had to deal with the tragic murder of Dominique Frazier this past September because of an alleged conflict with one of her suitemates.            

From Frazier’s untimely death, Peace Week was birthed at BSU. The first annual Peace Week was held March 26-31. There were many events held some of which included a poetry slam, peace walk, basketball game, barbeque, a few panel discussions, workshops, and ended with a conference.           

One of the workshops, “The Attack on Social Media,” was open to females only which included faculty, staff and students. Tamika Jackson and Jacqueline Paul were co-chairs for this event.  This workshop focused on female conflict and how social media is involved. With the rising use of social media as a way of communication there are unfortunately some negative effects such as slandering, threats, and bullying.           

“Because of the tragedy in September we wanted to show we can unite and be a peaceful community,” Paul said. “We need to show others alternatives to violence when conflicts arise.”            

About 50 women attended the event where twitter was the social media used. Everyone was asked to sign in to their twitter accounts and tweet questions that they might have, or experiences of conflict they have seen on any social media outlet.            

Almost everyone in the audience had seen conflicts, bullying, and threats on social media networks. The presenters staged scenarios that were discussed and asked participants for solutions.            

But the same question kept being asked: “Why are women fighting each other over men on social media, and those men are just sitting back watching?”            

The consensus in the room was “as women we need to stop fighting and attacking each other.”