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For most Syracuse University students, social media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat have become a space to provide quick, short news stories about coronavirus outbreaks and cases. Through those posts, some students have shamed their peers who recklessly decide to gather en masse and party.

From photos on Snapchat of students at parties to large gatherings in dorms, students are being held accountable by peers on social media far more than by the university’s endless, but ineffective, emails.

SU has offered vague information about possible outbreaks and the source of the recent COVID-19 cluster on campus, but social media sources targeted specific students and groups for breaking the rules and contributing to the spike. SU should be doing more to hold students accountable for violating public health guidelines.

It’s easy for one student to witness their peers violating public health guidelines during a pandemic, but holding them accountable on social media could deter further violations. Social media will do what the university’s administration will not: call out specific students with photo evidence and, sometimes, a witty remark.

All it takes is one student driving down Euclid or Walnut avenue to snap a picture of students partying outside and send it to a social media news account, which will then post the photo and call the students out. The quick exposure, combined with photo evidence, is one that will last forever online.

Many students fear being photographed at these events, which would lead to public humiliation and consequences from the university, if it were to come across the photos. This creates an incentive that shows how important it is for social media news outlets to hold students accountable.

COVID-19 poses a serious threat to the health and lives of the SU community. Students who brush off safety protocols need to be held accountable, and doing so is more important now than ever, as the lives of the Syracuse community are at stake. SU is a large and privileged institution within the Syracuse community, and students have an impact that stretches beyond campus.

Students are choosing to be more careful when posting to social media about partying. Now, they’re posting to their private Snapchat stories and ‘Close Friends’ stories on Instagram. But if you’re out partying, think twice about the repercussions that may follow, because a photo lasts forever.

Feryal Nawaz is a senior political science major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at fnawaz@syr.edu. She can be followed on Twitter @feryal_nawaz.

Published on October 21, 2020 at 11:56 pm