Controversial Facebook page at TRU: ‘Hey guys, this is just for entertainment… PEACE’
NEWS — A controversial Facebook page was updated today with a plea for politeness.
TRU Confessions 2014 has been the talk of campus this week after several posts included sexist and racist comments that resulted in complaints from students to administration.
The earlier offensive comments were removed, although some still contain foul language.
Today’s message from the moderator states: “Hey guys… This page is just for entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. So its a request to you guys PLEASE don’t take any confession personally or seriously. Moreover as an admin i will try to keep this page clean, entertaining and will make sure that nobody or no community will get hurt. PEACE fellas and lets begin the fun…”
That resulted in one response that said, “Some people are just way too oversensitive…”
The “About” statement on the page asks students to “send us your deepest, funniest, dirtiest confessions you have as a message. And we will post it ANONYMOUSLY.”
It says the page was started because an earlier one was only for residence students. While the page still carries a TRU logo, a disclaimer says the page is not affiliated in any way with TRU.
CTV reported Wednesday that student Elycia Buckley happened upon a post on the Facebook page that described her and a female lab partner in sexualized terms, so she reported it to the university’s administration.
One post insulted South Asian men, calling them “brown guys” and telling them to avoid local women, and making offensive cultural remarks.
Dean Christine Adam.
TRU dean of students Christine Adam said students need to think more about how they represent themselves online.
“For some of our students it’s the first place where they encounter people from other sexual orientation, other countries and other backgrounds, and we need to be around to support them in their learning, even when they make poor decisions,” Adam told CFJC.
“We’ve got to help them make better decisions.”
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Hurtful statements posted by one person about another have nothing to do with “confessions.” They are nothing less than bullying. If untrue, they are also defamatory.
If the moderator is using the TRU name or logo on the page then the university should use such control as they have over the student(s) to shut down the page or use legal means to compel them to do so. To think that an institution of higher learning would limit its intervention to guiding the students reflects very poorly on that institution.
As for Elycia Buckley, not only do you have courage, you have the courage of your convictions. Well done. Would that the university follow your lead.
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