On April 27th, 2023, the current Journalism 2.0 class held a public meeting to discuss living online in today’s world; a culmination of many topics discussed throughout the semester. In order to pertain to Wheaton’s campus, the topic was centered on the Instagram page WheaConfesss, an Instagram account run by an anonymous Wheaton College student.
The conversation was organized in a snowball method, led by the four moderators Luca Contarino, Dennis Danaher, Moira Sankey, and Davina Sienkiewicz. This format was a particular highlight of the meeting, because it allowed for the groups to develop their thoughts with a closer group, and then bring them to the larger audience. This created a progressive environment, as each time groups joined together, ideas were further developed as new perspectives were introduced and were up for debate. Participants included members of the class, other students and staff.
The social media manager for Wheaton, Emma Sullivan, also made an appearance, participating in our discussion and giving insight as to why WheaConfesss is seen as a negative force by the administration. Besides creating drama between students, its comments on staff members and broad assumptions about the administration’s policies were seen as an annoyance, and while she did acknowledge that there was value in broadcasting student voices, she explained that WheaConfess didn’t seem like the right place for it.
The current WheaConfesss page has caused quite a stir over the past semester, and has been described to have quite a different “vibe” as ones from past years. Whereas others have been lighthearted and along the lines of asking people to stop puking in stairwells, this account has posts directly attacking individuals or groups of students. Those present at the meeting discussed how the platform sometimes went after specific individuals on campus, and how some of the posts bordered on defamation, compounded by the fact that the account is under no obligation to fact-check its statements, such that there is no way for readers to be sure that the statements contain truth to them. The malicious intent behind the posts only serve to fuel fires, instigate drama, and cause negative reactions within the Wheaton Community. That’s not to say every post is inherently negative, but the ones that are, appear consistently enough that they outweigh the good.
This caused a shift in conversation from the content of the account to the person running it behind the scenes. While they have stated that the purpose of the account is to serve as a confession page, those participating in the public meeting pointed out that self-moderation need not be a restrictive measure and that it is essential to prevent the more controversial or damaging posts from being published.
Credibility was also called into question, and the idea of what would happen should the person reveal their identity came up. It was eventually agreed upon that it would not be wise, as it might trigger a backlash on campus.
Moderation was definitely a much needed topic of conversation, and unearthed a whole new slew of ideas for debate. If the person running the account is deemed to not be doing a good enough job, then who should be in charge of it? The most obvious suggestion would be someone from the Wheaton administration, but that was immediately shut down. The reasoning behind this is that users would stop trusting the page, which would eventually shut down due to lack of engagement. As of now, the page is a place for students to air out dirty laundry without the social consequences for coming out with the information. Having the outlet controlled by someone who is not a student, will take away the effect of having the anonymity that accompanies hiding behind a screen.
One possible solution for this was the suggestion of moving the idea of WheaConfesss to The Wheaton Wire publications. Since the paper is entirely student run with no ties to administration, it provides the same sense of student activism and independence. The difference between the instagram page and The Wire, however, is that the newspaper would be moderated by an editorial team instead of one singular person.
Another one of the more touched upon subjects, was that all of these accounts exist for a time but each one eventually dies out, likely being replaced by some new accounts in the future. The main problems lie within the account, but it’s Wheaton’s student population that is causing issues as opposed to the account itself. The culture of Wheaton is the driving force behind the issues stemming from WheaConfess, meaning that there isn’t much that can be done to the account right now. It exists, but will only be a problem if it’s being used as a hostile and mean-spirited place.
Overall, the public meeting was productive and successful, with great points being made across the board. The conclusions reached were that, while WheaConfess is a big thing right now on campus, it is merely one of many interactive school accounts that has been present throughout multiple years at Wheaton College.
This article is a collaborative work from the spring 2023 Journalism 2.0 class, pieced together and edited by Moira Sankey and Davina Sienkiewicz.
Journalism 2.0 