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Monday, February 24, 2025

Longwood Snapchat creating issues for university

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A student-run Longwood Snapchat account has been flaring up conversations around campus this semester and is causing issues for the university.

UPDATE: As of the article’s Monday release online, the account for the Longwood Snapchat has sent out notifications to the account’s followers to add a new account for a Farmville Snapchat. Although the new Snapchat account’s name is no longer affiliated with the university, this does not mean that the new account could not be reported by the university.

Follow The Rotunda for another  update should the university take action in an investigation.

How it works

Snapchat features a “story” function with which users who follow the account can view photos and videos sent to the account. In order to send or view these photos or videos, a user would need to add the account to their “friends.” Once added to their account, you are able to send photos and videos to the account, which could possibly end up on the account’s “story.”

This “story” is a collection of selected photos and videos sent to the account in order to be featured. Typically videos cannot be saved and photos can only be saved if a screenshot is taken of the image. However, these photos and videos sent to this account are saved through the use of  a different app. This allows the account user to post any photos or videos sent to the account.

Anyone who is added to the account can see the photos and videos on the “story.”

The issue

The Snapchat account is not affiliated with the university except by name and is not run by any university officials. The username can still lead students, or even potential students, to believe that it is the university’s official Longwood Snapchat account.

Although the Snapchat account hosts seemingly harmless photos and videos, it has also been hosting photos involving nudity. The account also hosts photos and videos of students who are unaware that they are being recorded and displayed on a public platform. This raises Title IX concerns.

Photos and videos hosted on the account’s “story” will disappear after 24 hours. However, users are still able to screenshot photos. This means that one student could take an inappropriate photo of another student, send it to the Longwood Snapchat, and possibly have the photo displayed to anyone who is following the account. In turn, followers could screenshot the photo in order to save it on their phones. This would then give them the ability to distribute it in any way they wanted.

Another concern and issue is the content that displays the use of marijuana. Although many users shown using marijuana in the Longwood Snapchat “story” will hide their faces, others do not.

This could potentially open the door for Longwood police to become involved in the investigation regarding the use of marijuana on campus.

Jen Fraley, the associate dean of Conduct and Integrity as well as the university’s Title IX coordinator, says that the university will need to conduct an investigation in order to confirm the inappropriate content on the Snapchat account before being able to take more action.

Fraley says she has contacted the university’s social media personnel and hasn’t heard back from them yet in terms of what they are doing in the situation.

“Well we would have to do an investigation. If we could determine, you know, who was behind the Longwood Snapchat, if that could be identified, if those individuals do fall within our sexual misconduct policy, we would have to do an investigation to see what actually, you know, what the infraction would be based on our sexual misconduct policy. Off the top of my head, there are a couple of things that come to mind. I mean we do have some things, in terms of sexual exploitation that are covered within our policy. I mean, clearly, sexual harassment, that sort of thing,” says Fraley.

Fraley says that the possible infractions could not be officially determined until a thorough investigation was conducted, but that if it was determined that there were violations of the policy, the user(s) would be held appropriately accountable through the policy.

“So we need to explore our options and see what all those options are and see which different avenues we can take before coming to a decision as to how that can absolutely be handled. I think, just in general, that the concerns have been raised and that’s half the battle. So I think the more people that are concerned about it, more people that are like ‘Oh, that’s not appropriate. That’s not where we want our community to be and how we want our community to be represented,’” says Fraley.

Snapchat’s policies

According to Snapchat’s community guidelines and rules, users should refrain from “snapping” content including pornography, nudity or sexually suggestive content involving minors (people under the age of 18), and invasions of privacy.

Snapchat’s community guidelines state, “Violating these rules may result in the removal of content, the suspension of your account and being prohibited from using Snapchat in the future. Please take these rules seriously and honor them in the spirit in which they are intended. The rules will change and evolve along with the Snapchat user community. We will do our best to enforce them consistently and fairly, and ultimately we’ll try to do what we think is best in each situation, at our own discretion.”

The community guidelines also clearly state to “keep your clothes on” if there is a possibility that you are “snapping” with someone under the age of 18. Although most Longwood students are at least 18, there is a possibility that there are underage students as well as minors outside of the university who are following the Longwood Snapchat.

Snapchat requires users to be at least 13 years of age in order to create an account. Nevertheless, it is questionable as to whether a user could be deceptive about their age and be successful in creating an account anyway.

Users are able to report content to Snapchat on their website, but Snapchat states that they are unable to take action when reports are made through third-parties.

“We may share information about you in response to legal process or a request for information if we believe disclosure is consistent with, or required by, any applicable law, rule, or regulation; to investigate or remedy potential violations of our user agreements or policies, or to protect the rights, property, and safety of us, our users, or others…” states Snapchat’s privacy policy.

This could possibly allow the university to request basic information about the user of the account, which could then lead to the individual(s) running the account.

How the university plans to respond

As far as how the university plans to respond, they have not confirmed any actions except that they plan on investigating the situation.

Mary Jo Stockton, the director of web and social content, says that they became aware of the account around a few months since before the summer.

Stockton says that the content would need to be investigated, and that if inappropriate content was confirmed, they would then follow up with Snapchat in order to take appropriate action.

As far as responding with a Snapchat of their own, Stockton says that it isn’t really an option for them.

“I can say that we’ve looked at Snapchat, and how that could fit into our social media efforts. Of them all, Snapchat takes a lot of work and a lot of manpower to do something that isn’t lame, to do something that actually worked. Snapchat works very differently to other social media platforms. So it really takes some manpower that can be engaged on a constant basis, and that just isn’t possible for us,” says Stockton.

Although Stockton was not able to confirm when an investigation would begin, she did say that due to it being a current issue, it would not be left for investigation until next semester.

“We’re going to have to look at all our different options to be able to see, ‘okay, what avenues do we have?’ to be able to help rectify that situation, and I don’t think we have all that information yet,” says Fraley.

Follow The Rotunda for an update should the university take an action in an investigation.