Makayla Wrigley is a nursing student at the University of Maine at Farmington and an aspiring physician. She works in long-term care and pediatric behavioral health.

Too frequently, I’m reminded that an unsettling percentage of University of Maine at Farmington students, and University of Maine System students in general, partake in what can only be described as a stink cloud in the toilet stall of the internet.

More commonly known as a tiny-but-deadly app with a yak plastered in front of a teal background, Yik Yak bills itself as a “local, anonymous Twitter or a local virtual bulletin board.” If it were to appear in the form of a real bulletin board on campus, I would hope that expulsion of the person who put it up would be the outcome.

When you swing that metaphorical stall door open, Yik Yak asks you for two things: your university email and your phone number. That’s it. You’re now a particle in the stink cloud. From there, you learn from that being a keyboard warrior is your only way forward.

The all-consuming hate speech, henpecking, hot gossip and dining hall discussion are your life now. This isn’t connection, this is no bulletin board suitable for work, this is a cafeteria food fight under the misleading maroon University of Maine at Farmington logo.

The University of Maine System’s Code of Student Conduct states: “It is expected that students will conduct their affairs with proper regard for the rights of others and of the University. All members of the University community share a responsibility for maintaining an environment where actions are guided by mutual respect, integrity and reason.”

Imagine my surprise, then, when there is zero repercussion for personal attacks posted to Yik Yak such as:

● “Stop talking so much in class.”
● “hey i didn’t pay to listen to you i paid to listen to the prof. stop talking.” (What I really enjoyed about that second one was the effort to keep every letter lowercase, with punctuation sprinkled in just for razzle-dazzle.)
● Or the truly charming, “Since when did this school turn into a Christian conversion camp?”

The stinkiest of all? “[insert dorm room number and full name] needs to calm tf down.” This was followed by a Snapchat group organizing to bang on this person’s door at 6 a.m.

I advocate for change, for an end to harassment on this platform, because I don’t want these crude statements to represent my school — the school I pay tuition to attend, the school I work my butt off to succeed at, the school I chose. I doubt any of us chose this.

In case you need more proof, I’ve gone ahead and done my research on a national level. This isn’t a UMaine system issue, this is a United States issue.

In 2015, the University of Missouri was forced to arrest a student for threatening to shoot African American students during a series of campus protests. Though the school was unable to figure out who made these terrorist threats, the police department was.

That same year, the University of Mary Washington was sued in a federal civil rights complaint due to a campus feminist club being threatened by an anonymous poster. The university claimed that the use of Yik Yak was an expression of free speech, leading the threatened students to take it to a national level.

Eventually, in April of 2017, Yik Yak was shut down due to students everywhere deciding not to engage with the heinous app that fostered such disgusting acts. But matter cannot be destroyed, thus the rebirth of the fart cloud in 2021.

That was quickly followed by a University of Vermont student being wrongly accused of sexual assault in 2022, defaming his character and having serious mental health concerns as a side effect.

In 2021, four students at West Virginia University faced disciplinary action for using the app to spread false information about a planned public suicide. The University of North Carolina in 2024 banned Yik Yak from all of its systems, with students now unable to run Yik Yak on the school’s Wi-Fi. This marks the first time that a school finally took action against the putrid app.

Universities, colleges, high schools, any place of education should be fostering growth, community and education. Who better to own that than the teaching school.

University of Maine at Farmington, I beg that you stop allowing this debauchery to thrive on your campus. Yik Yak is not free speech, Yik Yak is reckless anonymity. It creates a hostile environment, houses polarization and eliminates a large sense of unity.

To me, UMF is a safe place — or at least it was, prior to my discovery of the things being said about me on Yik Yak. I only come forth to attest to my experience in hopes to advocate for my peers.

My dear friends, the amazing staff and faculty at UMF, I’d like to think we hold ourselves to a higher standard than this. This is a call to action. Do better, care more, and do not let yourself fall into the trap of hiding behind anonymity. You can’t take any of it back, ever.

Despite what you may think you know about a person, you never truly know the state of their mind or what they are going through. If the University of North Carolina can do it, a bunch of hearty Maine kids can make it happen too. Hold your head higher, UMF.

If you or someone you know is struggling or feeling unsafe, please reach out.

● UMF Counseling Services – (207) 778-7034
● Maine Crisis Line – 1-888-568-1112 (available 24/7)
● National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – dial 988 (available 24/7, free and confidential)
● Franklin County Sheriff’s Office – (207) 778-2680
● Farmington Police Department – (207) 778-6311
● In case of immediate danger, dial 911