Spotted in the library facebook page remains online in spite of Vice Chancellor’s warning.
Gemma Coleman
A Facebook group that mocks students in the Penrhyn Road campus library remains online even after the Vice-Chancellor demanded the page be shut down.
The ‘Spotted: Penrhyn Library’ Facebook page which contains some abusive and offensive messages towards students, has ignored all negative feedback by remaining online and is still active for students to comment on.
Julius Weinberg, KU’s Vice-Chancellor released an official statement to students in January this year saying: “If the page is not removed, or if it is replaced with a new one, we will take further action.
“An investigation will be launched into the founders of this page and disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with the University’s Harassment Policy and disciplinary procedures.”
Professor Weinberg made the statement alongside KUSU’s vice president Lucy Williams, who felt that it was unacceptable and that a form of bullying was being tolerated at Kingston University.
Not so bad intention?
It seems that the original intention for the social media page was for people to express their liking to someone to avoid the embarrassment of speaking to them face to face.
However, this quickly changed to very personal and offensive attacks on people who were studying in the library.
One comment said: “Just had a serious ‘bird or bloke’ moment on floor two…still can’t figure it out. Awkward.”
Shelina Shellington, a third-year politics and international relations student feels outraged by the page and has tried to comment on every abusive comment made.
She said: “The statuses that the page administrator puts up are very shallow, creepy, and just cowardly. Especially because the administrator is anonymous.”
Ms Shellington wants a thorough investigation to find the perpetrator and believes that they should then be removed from the University.
She said: “They’re obviously not respecting the University or taking their degree seriously, so they don’t deserve to be here.”
Professor Weinberg said in his statement that if the page remained and comments were continuing then he would take further action.
He said: “Do not let the abusers get away with it without responding, but always courteously. If someone knows who the abusers are then shame them.”
Removing page not so easy
But the Vice-Chancellor has expressed the difficulty of removing the social media page and hopes that the creator will have the courtesy to remove it themselves.
Professor Weinberg said: “The University does not want to regulate what students do online. Our students are adults who should be trusted to behave in a civilised, responsible way.”
The ‘Spotted: Kingston University’ and ‘Spotted: Kingston Penrhyn Road LRC’ pages have already attracted over 400 likes between them.
‘Spotted’ pages such as these are not limited to Kingston but appear internationally including pages about universities, libraries and gyms.