My peers were suspended for two weeks for publicly, kindly and passionately expressing their beliefs in a 24/7-publicly available space—a space that College security swiftly shut down.

The following YikYaks, which I view as genuine threats against students’ physical, emotional and mental well-being, as well as their security at this institution, have not been addressed well by the administration beyond a recent email from President Safa Zaki. This is not because deans have not been informed—I can confirm there being at least two earlier occasions where members of the administration claimed that they were unaware of these comments, after which we made an effort to bring the posts to their attention.

I write this to ensure that those without access to YikYak know these comments were said against our peers, students or friends. These are threats, and while they are anonymous in nature, the school has the power to try and access who posted them.

As far as I am aware, they have not done so.

Deans, if you are honest when you say you “were not aware,” read below. Disrobe your easily solved ignorance and treat all of your students equally. In many other contexts, these comments would be treated seriously. Why not now?

I copy these posts so those who do not have access to YikYak—whether due to the devices they work on or a need to stay separate from the toxic nature of anonymous posting—can see them as well, to archive the YikYaks themselves and to counter the tunnel-vision comments that characterize the protesters as “violent” or “creating an unsafe environment” despite the legitimate threats being posted online.

All I have the power to do is point out the threats made against the students and the institution as a whole—to archive, to make sure this is not swept away as many anonymous comments have been.

Grammar and spelling have been preserved. All of the following messages have been screenshotted unedited from the Bowdoin YikYak channel; I am willing to provide evidence of these YikYaks upon request.

“Who knows how to add tear gas to smith ventilation?? Asking for a friend”

“Just threaten to expel these morons, ‘protest’ will be over in 5 minutes.”

“The Jewish ppl run this school and the funds behind it. You Palestinians lovers will never win. The Jewish own America and own Bowdoin college.”

-Author’s note: The protestors, who have been and continue to be very clear in their stance being separate from any spiritual faith and directed toward the Israeli state have been called anti-Semitic; yet comments like these, rooted in anti-Semitic beliefs, are not?

“Turn off the heat! Turn off the utilities!”

-Author’s note: Even the administration would not go this far; how does the admin feel that our fellow peers hope to put people into situations where their health is at risk? Is this the community the administration wants?

“Randy’s been waiting to break out the tear gas …”

“Drag their ass out” 

“Safa hasn’t anyone told you, you don’t negotiate with terrorists?”

“I really don’t understand why admin doesn’t just send in the cops and be done with it I just want some entertainment”

“Bowdoin should buy a private jet and ship these people out to the Gaza Strip so they can really make a change. We can even give them AKs.” 

“I will personally fund one way flight tickets to the Gaza Strip so you can make a real difference.”

“Arrest the people still in Smith.”

“If there’s no steamy hot buff chick sandwiches at 11am smith is burning to the ground.”

-Author’s note: Again, were the protestors the threat despite a publically available arson threat? I understand that this is likely a joke. However, when the protestors were accused of making threats, true threats need to be treated with at least the same seriousness. Only eight students were suspended because of the administration believing “that the continued presence of [the students] is contrary to the best interests of the campus environment,” and none were punished for comments like this.

A sizable number of these YikYaks can be considered threats—lighthearted or otherwise—yet the school has claimed, multiple times now, in private and publicly, that they were “unaware” of them, even when students strove to tell them during and after the encampment.

Bowdoin, are threats only okay in your eyes when they preserve your status quo? Or will you treat this with the weight it deserves and acknowledge that you have the power to try to meaningfully address it?

Elias McEaneney is a member of the Class of 2027.