Airing out dirty laundry and grievances just got easier for Lethbridge College (LC) students, thanks to a new Facebook page called “LC Confessions.”
On Sept. 16, the page was born from an idea by the anonymous administrator to set up a page similar to the one at Mount Royal University. He says he was a little apprehensive, but his full intention was to give people who don’t know how to speak for themselves an outlet to open up anonymously.
“I try to give people that can’t talk for themselves a voice. However, every time you try to do something in good intentions, it always ends up a bad idea and unfortunately people are using it for bad ideas,” he says.
The popularity of LC Confessions increased after Halloween, when the creator dropped slips of paper with the page name around The Cave at the Hallow-Rave. As of Nov. 14 the site had 2,400 likes.
The creator enlisted the help of two other administrators, who all work together to post the confessions. He says in the beginning, there were a lot of racist and sexist posts.
A recurring theme among posts is some feel self-conscious around the college now that this page has been created. The page creator says there are some things he regrets posting because of the hateful and hurtful nature of the words.
“I really don’t want people to feel they’re being judged when they are walking around here. Unfortunately in everyday life, that’s basically how it is, we’re all being judged no matter what we do. It sucks. As the person being the fat kid back in high school, I understand where they’re coming from and I know how it feels,” he says.
The LC marketing and communications department was alerted to the page’s existence by concerned staff. While they cannot force the page to be deleted, they can monitor it.
An e-mail distributed by communications specialist Gwen Wirth to LC employees on Nov. 7 encourages anyone offended to use Facebook’s “Message” feature of the page to quote the confession number in a takedown request. Alternatively, people can have offensive posts removed vi the “Report/Mark as Spam…” option. This feature can be found in the drop down menu on every post.
After meeting with social media specialist, Rod Leland, rules and regulations were set and the page administrators now filter the posts. Rules include no official association with LC, no posts violating Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, no last names or individual residence housing units and refrain from posting content that paints the college or its staff in a negative light.
“We’re still an independent group. They are letting us do our thing as long as we abide by their suggestions,” says the page’s creator. As for regrets he said, “I got myself into this mess and I have to stick to it. If I don’t do it, someone else will, and who’s to say they’ll follow what the college wants,” he says.