Founded on Jan. 6, the popular Facebook page Brandeis Confessions has become a place for members of the Brandeis community (and people outside of the community as well) to anonymously comment on the university, their classes and each other. Since its humble beginnings last semester, it has gathered a following of over 1,400 people.
On Oct. 2 at 9:16 p.m., a confession, #3007, was posted by the Brandeis Confessions moderators from an anonymous source about a rumor that the Student Union wanted to “shut down Brandeis Confessions. That’s censorship.” The confession received 20 reactions from followers.
Two following confessions were posted on Oct. 7 and 10 regarding the rumor. Confession #3085 urged the Student Union to rethink the decision, stating “Do not dare to take this page down,” in all capital letters, receiving 17 reactions. Another confession three days later, #3148, is from someone claiming to be a part of “the resistance inside the Student Union” and showing their support for the confessions page.
The confession received 28 reactions and comments from two students questioning the power of the Student Union to shut down a Facebook page. One student wrote that if the Student Union has no “better” things to do than to “try shutting down a funny Facebook page,” then the school itself is “devoid of fun.”
Despite all of the rumors, Student Union President Hannah Brown ’19 set the record straight to The Hoot.
“There is no movement within the Student Union to shut down Brandeis Confessions. I’m pretty sure that’s Facebook’s job to figure out whether or not the page should exist,” Brown said. “I mean it’s a Facebook page, not affiliated with Brandeis, officially. So no, that’s not really our territory. People are always welcome to come to us with issues.”
Brown also mentioned that because it is a public page, it is possible that people outside of the Brandeis community are filling out the form. “It’s just a Facebook page and the Union does not have control over Facebook, nor do we want to infringe upon free speech. If anyone has a problem they’re welcome to come to the Union and we can handle things with our discretion,” said Brown.
The moderators of the Brandeis Confessions page responded to The Hoot over Facebook Messenger. “Regarding the Student Union topic, our moderators haven’t had much information about it. We have never got any official reach out, though one of our moderator has overheard a conversation, and we had a confession about it (which we posted). I personally would be a bit sad if this is really a thing.”
