Exeter Confesses Retains Popularity; Conversation Covers Academy Issues

Over the past several weeks, after controversial occurrences, students have taken to the Facebook forum Exeter Confesses to voice their opinions, air concerns and spark discussion. Posts on Exeter Confesses have expressed discontent about the administration’s decision to cancel the Fred Grandy ’66 senior seminar and about a sharp exchange between a student and a presenter during an the “At the Crossroads” panel on MLK Day.

A few days later, Grandy’s seminar was postponed indefinitely after administration determined his views and ties to be too controversial for the workshop series to continue with its original and intended spirit. Exonians responded by sending posts to Exeter Confesses defending or opposing Grandy. The discussion brought to light the question of whether some views, specifically conservative stances, on campus are being repressed. “The events surrounding the MLK Day sparked a greater debate on campus about freedom of speech, intellectual diversity and opposing opinions on campus,” senior Mathias Valenta said. The large influx of posts quickly overtook Facebook feeds. When Principal Lisa MacFarlane officially addressed the chain of events with Grandy’s senior seminar at assembly, she urged students to talk offline. In her assembly address to the school Friday, MacFarlane encouraged open discussion of recent controversies in the community via offline forums, which many students have interpreted as a plea to refrain from participation in the anonymous Facebook group, Exeter Confesses.

“Without a moderator there’s nothing keeping an anonymous forum from devolving into something very dangerous. I’ve tried my best to keep it productive and respectful while still being entertaining.”

“There is of course an appropriate time and place for anonymity,” MacFarlane later wrote in an email to  The Exonian. “It can protect privacy, confidentiality, and the safety of individuals who  have information that is difficult to deliver or receive.”

Senior Nico Coleman, who created Exeter Confesses last year on Nov. 9, disagreed with MacFarlane’s suggestion. “I think contrary to what Principal MacFarlane said in her address, there is a major benefit to having these discussions on a public forum that everyone can access. That being said, I do hope that students are talking about these issues in real life,” Coleman said.

Coleman created Exeter Confesses with the intention of providing an anonymous posting forum through which students could share their thoughts. Since then, the group has flourished with over 800 members joined and has provoked both positive and negative reactions from the Exeter community. “No one had successfully created a forum for the entire school before,” Coleman said. “I thought that was something we were missing as an intellectual community.”

The Exeter community has experienced other forms of anonymous conversation in the past; several times, negative experiences ensued. Apps such as Yik Yak and After School also published undisclosed students’ thoughts and complaints. These online outlets, however, one way or another disappeared from the Exeter attention within several weeks or months. Exeter Confesses, on the other hand, continues to enrapture the attention of a large amount of the Exeter community. Although students and faculty alike have criticized the site, and controversial posts have been published in the past, in contrast to previous anonymous forums, the Exeter Confesses has received more positive feedback than other mediums as a forum for discussion.

Reverend Robert Thompson, one of the few faculty in the Facebook group, views Exeter Confesses occasionally. “I like to stay in touch with what’s going on,” he said. “Sometimes, I have to set aside an hour to read through the posts.”

Some students correlate the success of Exeter Confesses to the appeal of anonymity and of the ability to say anything without repercussions. Coleman said that people might feel safer in an environment where their names are not attached to their opinion. Without the guise of anonymity, students might take longer to formulate an argument or research their stance before speaking. Without the fear of backlash on Exeter Confesses, students express their views without fear.

Coleman rebuked arguments against the credibility of anonymous opinions. “Just because someone isn’t comfortable stating an opinion in front of the entire school doesn’t mean that they don’t have something useful to say,” Coleman said.

While some students and faculty have defended and praised Exeter Confesses’ ability to create discussion, others are worried that the site could lead to cyberbullying and the promotion of hate speech. “I think it has the potential to be a great forum, and from time to time it is, but I could definitely see how it could potentially be very hurtful,” Thompson said. “Sometimes people can just be really mean.”

MacFarlane expressed a similar view. “My concern—and I have not seen Exeter Confesses, so I am not speaking about that site—is that sometimes anonymity provides a cover for comments that are unkind or which defame individuals or groups,” she said. “A useful guideline: If you wouldn’t say something in public, to a person’s face, you might not want to say it online.”

However, most are confident that users of Exeter Confesses will remain polite. “[Exeter Confesses’ users are] not hostile,” lower Pradyumn Dayal said. “Most of them are either genuine questions about issues or statements that try to explain a point of view. I’ve never seen a post that attacks a person.”

To fight against cyberbullying which can easily degenerate from an abuse of anonymity, Coleman combs through comments to avoid posting personal attacks and to preserve the productivity and integrity of the site. “Without a moderator there’s nothing keeping an anonymous forum from devolving into something very dangerous. I’ve tried my best to keep it productive and respectful while still being entertaining,” Coleman said.

Although the potential for negative effects resulting from Exeter Confesses exists, a majority of students seem to remain positive about the potential for open discussion the site offers. Valenta said, “I think it has given students the opportunity to voice opinions that are unpopular and critical of the administration without the institutional repercussions students and teachers with minority views have faced for a long time.”

Contributions from April Murphy