The Resurrection of Yik Yak

In this paper, I discuss the impact of the app Yik Yak on college campuses, after it returned as a platform in 2021 post 2017 removal. The key aspects of the app include its location-based nature, anonymity, and user moderation system. I discuss advantages and disadvantages of the culture that it fosters, as well as greater social, political, and philosophical implications of Yik Yak as a hybrid space, or a space that permits communication both online and in the real world

Racism Online: Racialized Aggressions and Sense of Belonging Among Asian American College Students

Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez-AlemánCollege students today are the most connected and social media savvy generation in the history of higher education (Junco & Cole-Avent, 2008) and maintain constant connections to online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (Clem & Junco, 2015). Social media are now understood as a central component of campus and student life across colleges and universities (Martínez-Alemán & Wartman, 2009). Coinciding with the proliferation of social media use has been a rise in racialized hostilities on online settings. These offenses often target racially minoritized students, and scholars have become increasingly interested in understanding the ways this antagonism on social media impacts college student experiences (Tynes, Rose, & Markoe, 2013), including Asian Americans (Museus & Truong, 2013).         This dissertation uses a critical race theory framework to examine the racialized environment on social media, how Asian American college students experience racialized aggressions, and how their sense of belonging is impacted by racially hostile online encounters. This dissertation addresses the following question: How do encounters with racialized aggressions on social media impact Asian American students’ sense of belonging at a PWI? 29 participants from a predominantly white institution, East Oak University, engaged in individual interviews, participant observations, artifact collection, and focus groups as part of this study. The findings of this study suggest that the encounter of racialized aggressions on social media, especially those on the anonymous platform Yik Yak, are detrimental in facilitating positive sense of belonging among Asian Americans at East Oak. These online racialized encounters are asserted to be rooted in the endemic nature of racism at East Oak, and the claiming of social media as a property that enabled Whites to define and dictate campus culture by engaging in racist discourse. The nature of these online communications speaks to the ways that social media is suggested to influence both sense of belonging and institutional racial climates on today’s college campuses.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education

Controlling for Unobserved Confounds in Classification Using Correlational Constraints

As statistical classifiers become integrated into real-world applications, it is important to consider not only their accuracy but also their robustness to changes in the data distribution. In this paper, we consider the case where there is an unobserved confounding variable $z$ that influences both the features $\mathbf{x}$ and the class variable $y$. When the influence of $z$ changes from training to testing data, we find that the classifier accuracy can degrade rapidly. In our approach, we assume that we can predict the value of $z$ at training time with some error. The prediction for $z$ is then fed to Pearl's back-door adjustment to build our model. Because of the attenuation bias caused by measurement error in $z$, standard approaches to controlling for $z$ are ineffective. In response, we propose a method to properly control for the influence of $z$ by first estimating its relationship with the class variable $y$, then updating predictions for $z$ to match that estimated relationship. By adjusting the influence of $z$, we show that we can build a model that exceeds competing baselines on accuracy as well as on robustness over a range of confounding relationships.Comment: 9 page

Cyber violence: What do we know and where do we go from here?

This paper reviews the existing literature on the relationship between social media and violence, including prevalence rates, typologies, and the overlap between cyber and in-person violence. This review explores the individual-level correlates and risk factors associated with cyber violence, the group processes involved in cyber violence, and the macro-level context of online aggression. The paper concludes with a framework for reconciling conflicting levels of explanation and presents an agenda for future research that adopts a selection, facilitation, or enhancement framework for thinking about the causal or contingent role of social media in violent offending. Remaining empirical questions and new directions for future research are discussed

Academic Feminist Activism on a Traditional STEM Campus: The Case of a Feminist Newspaper at MTU

This study addresses the problem of gender hostility on a STEM-focused university campus. I engage with current debates over the definition and purpose of feminism, in order to argue for the necessity of feminist activism in engineering education, with a particular focus on applications for Michigan Tech. Theoretically, I locate gender hostility in a long-running rejection of “the feminine” in STEM-based ways of knowing, curricula, and academic institutions. Drawing on Dorothy Smith’s conceptualization of “ruling relations,” I trace the discursive construction of femininity and the masculine/feminine dichotomy as seen in institutional forms, web pages, and student writing on social media. I consider the efficacy of undergraduate student activism on STEM-focused campuses in countering hostility toward the feminine. Specifically, in this project, I focus on the founding and accomplishments of a Michigan Tech feminist student newspaper: Beyond the Glass Ceiling. I set this newspaper within a history of student-initiated feminist publications at Michigan Tech, including The Technobabe Times and UNDER_WIRE. In chronicling the experiences of the students who wrote, designed, and edited the eponymous newspaper, I analyze how they understood and responded to institutionally embedded, textual, and contextual discourses about gender and feminism. My analysis admits the limitations but asserts the potential of undergraduate women’s counter-hegemonic struggle against the gendered ruling relations governing a STEM education. In the conclusion, I argue for Martha Nussbaum’s philosophical articulation of justice and gender as a useful platform for developing strategies to address gender hostility in STEM education for the good of all students

Encouraging Ethical Behavior in the Workplace by Way of the Classroom: Examining the Use of Social Media in Marketing Ethics Instruction to Influence Millennials‘ Perception of Workplace Ethics

An emphasis on marketing ethics instruction in higher education may be needed now more than ever. The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) reports that employees of the millennial generation are less cognizant of unethical practices in the workplace than previous generations, and suggests that the millennials\u27 exposure and frequency to social media contributes to their disregard of unethical workplace behavior (―2011 National Business Ethics Survey,‖ 2012). Social media communication is popular among the millennial generation and is a requirement for modern-day businesses; yet, the nature of social media seems to be affecting this new generation of employees negatively. Could social media be used positively in marketing ethics instruction to enhance inductive learning of the millennial generation and encourage ethical workplace behavior? This quasi-experimental study sought to answer that question through a control and treatment group research design. Both groups received the same marketing ethics instruction, but the treatment group engaged in instruction through social media while the control group‘s instruction was delivered in class. A comparison of pre- and post-surveys of both groups sought to evaluate if social media could be used to make a positive impact on millennials‘ ethical workplace behavior. Noteworthy findings of the study included: (1) The preference of a closed Facebook page for academic use rather than other social media formats; (2) The tendency of frequent YouTube users to respond unethically to workplace behavior and marketing ethics scenarios; and (3) The support for marketing ethics instruction as a standalone course

Private vs. Public: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Experiences and the Influence of Anti-discrimination Policies With Respect to Religion

For a vast majority of Americans, religion is an integral part of life. In fact, 10:30am on Sundays is considered the most holy time in the United States as most persons have just left, are currently attending, or are on their way to their various places of worship. Believing in organized religion comes with challenges, as religion has often been the basis and justification for discriminatory practices. These challenges can cause emotional tension, especially to those who identify with teachings that religions have traditionally condemned. This document sought to determine if religion matters to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) student collegiate experiences at private, faith-based institutions and, if it did, was it more prevalent than at public, liberal arts institutions. Using the phenomenological approach and narrative interviews along with a document analysis as data collection methods, eight (8) participants from two southern Louisiana institutions gave insight into their collegiate experiences as LGBT and identifying with an organized religion. Interviews were transcribed and categorized thematically and then compared to school anti-discrimination policies to determine if the policy was relevant in context to, and functional with, the LGBT student experience. Final analysis and results and implications for collegiate leaders are presented as suggestions for more inclusive campus environments

Digital baggage: the digital identity of entry-level student affairs professionals

This case study examined the personal and professional social media use of entry-level student affairs professionals at the four campuses in the University of Missouri System: the University of Missouri, University of Missouri -- St. Louis, University of Missouri -- Kansas City, and Missouri University of Science and Technology. Bounded by the profession of student affairs, I focused on how entry-level student affairs administrators used social networking sites and the implications of certain types of usage on their careers and their effectiveness in the field of student affairs. Findings suggested that most entry-level professionals do not enter student affairs ready or willing to engage university communities on social media platforms and their respective campuses and graduate programs are not preparing them to do so. Without much institutional or professional direction, other factors influenced their decisions regarding social media use including personal and professional experiences, communities, and the university environment.Includes bibliographical references

Racial Stressors and the Black College Experience at Predominately White Institutions

African American students attending predominately white institutions (PWIs) face a different climate than their white counterparts. This is due to their unique experiences shaped by the multifaceted issues of racism that often go unnoticed by the broader campus. Racism produces race-related stress, which has been linked with psychological and health issues, such as low self-esteem, concentration issues, anxiety, and depression. Noting the complex context in which Black students exist at PWIs, racial-stressors and their effects, this thesis explores what happens to Black students after experiencing a high-profile racial incident. Using the University of Missouri as a focal point, it aims to understand the experiences of Black students and how major racial events affect their academic goals. It also examines the roles campus protests play in alleviating or exacerbating racial-stressors and the feeling of being “unwelcomed” at institutions