A Hub For Student Engagement?

STUDENT LIFE BY KAMRYN BOUYETT

A HUB FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT?

AN INTERVIEW WITH @CSULBAFFIRMATIONS

Who is @csulbaffirmations you may ask? I don’t know. Through private interviews, I asked some anonymous accounts their perspective on the power of anonymity on social media. I also asked how they felt about new accounts speaking on behalf of the student body of Long Beach, like @csulbtruth, @fundthearts.csulb, and @csulb.art.building.heat.

Another popular account you may know is @csulbcuriosities, a page where students can submit photos from campus that they’re ‘curious’ about. @Csulbcuriosities told me they were unable to commit to an interview due to their availability.

The divide between students, faculty and administration is more than severed. Students are done standing back with their complaints.

@Csulbaffirmations is a page of affirmations that LBSU students can relate to. Although their page is considered a meme page, their posts shed a light on what students really care about. The page validates the opinion of students on campus and in return, creates a community online. Some affirmations talk about the lack of food options on campus, parking complaints against other students, and the air conditioning situation on campus.

In a post from @csulbaffirmations, the affirmation “there will be AC in all my classes today” was posted in April of this year. In the comment section of the post, one user claims to be a former faculty member of 45 years from the school. They agreed with the humorous post and added that some classrooms for the Kinesiology Department also felt like “sweat boxes”.

The @csulb.art.building.heat account came up randomly on my recommendations one evening. Its posts were screenshots of complaints from reddit. Their posts erupted. A protest was organized and reached the eyes of many. A caption from their last post reads: “Let us all work together to find the best solution possible. Keep everyone accountable even if it ‘“stops being hot”’, we can’t ever let them forget it.”

Another popular student body led account is @lb_confess. Created in the spur of the moment with a friend, @lb_confess is an account that shares the anonymous confessions of supposed students. Submissions talk about almost everything, from relationship details to awkward interactions with students to random stories with absolutely no censor.

“People are more likely to speak their truths when left anonymous because it allows them to not be fully judged,’’ they said. “I think it has definitely created a community within this account, and I’d love to think of this Instagram as almost a safe space.”

A smaller account is more focused on the missed connections on campus. @Csulb_missedconnections receives submissions and posts anonymously on their page. The wholesome Instagram account posts different situations supposed students have experienced on campus.

“I think by sharing these small moments we can take the opportunity to externalize how we are feeling and process our emotions in a safe space,” they said. “I think that this is how we connect with people over social media, maybe not through meeting, but through shared feelings.”

The use of social media is controversial but for LBSU students it’s easy using social media as a tool for community outreach and friendships on campus.

Kamryn Bouyett: When and why did you start the @csulbaffirmations page?

Affirmations Account Owner: I started CSULB Affirmations in early fall 2021 because I noticed other schools had pages and I needed one. I was originally trying to think of someone to tell the idea to so they could start it instead but I got impatient and just did it myself.

KB: How do you choose submissions for posts?

AAO: Most of the ideas come out of my brain, but I do accept some submissions. I get a lot of submissions that simply, (a) wouldn’t fit the format well or (b) are wayyyyy too specific. The affirmations need to be funny and short and relatable, and not everyone executed the vibe perfectly. And I feel bad telling people their [idea] doesn’t work, so I leave a lot “in requests”.

KB: Do you think that student engagement is more online because of social media? Why or why not?

AAO: Honestly, I think covid pushed a lot of students online to the point where that’s how so many people engage with the campus community. That’s why I try to post about current events or hiring or clubs because I know most of us forgot how to do these things. I wish I had somewhere really accessible, like Instagram, where I could just see what’s happening around campus.

KB: Do you think social media has created a whole other community aside from LBSU?

AAO: I definitely think there is a side to LBSU that is entirely online. There was a whole generation of transfer students that entered online and graduated online. Switching to Canvas right now doesn’t help either because literally all people want right now is consistency and we can’t even do that.

KB: Do you think the administration could learn about the concerns students have through social media?

AAO: I definitely think administration could learn from what students are expressing through my account. I want someone to hear what we’re saying. I do have some professors who follow me but clearly no one with any power for change. There already is a huge disconnect between faculty and students; social media is such an easy way to bridge that gap, or at least be incognito in learning about student life on campus. Especially the ASI and other big accounts. There need to be important eyes on those comment sections. A lot of times that’s the only place students know to go to for questions and complaints. And it should be taken seriously.

KB: What is your opinion on the uprising of other LBSU accounts on Instagram?

AAO: I am honored that other students took it upon themselves to simply just go for it. I am glad students are finding their niche, whether that’s in a club on campus or an Instagram account.

ILLUSTRATION BY PHYKE SORIANO