Economics lecturer storms out after discovering ‘sexual’ Yik Yaks about her

An economics lecturer stormed out of class last week after opening up to her first year students about ‘sexual’ comments she’d seen on Yik Yak about her.

Expecting a typically dreary hour of maths and statistics, the freshers were shocked when Helene Turon spoke with anger about the remarks she’d seen on the social media app and then stormed out of the building instead of giving a lecture.

A first year, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “She came in and didn’t log on which was strange. She then asked for silence and began saying how she was angry, unhappy, and offended by posts of a sexual nature that have been made on social media about her.

“Helene then went on to say how her teenage children could have seen the posts, which could have been very damaging for them and herself.

Helene was upset by Yik Yaks containing sexual remarks about her

“She followed this by sternly saying ‘that is all for today’ and taking the long walk across the stage to pick up her coat and exit the room, glancing back at everyone as she left.

“Everyone was astonished and as the door shut the whole room broke down into nervous laughter.”

A week later all Economics students received an email from Steve Lyne, Head of the School of Economics, Finance and Management.

Some of the (non-sexual) Yaks about Helene

The email, titled “misuse of Social Media” speaks about respecting “values that are fundamental to any good university”.

Steve goes on to say he has evidence of highly offensive material posted by students about lecturers and threatens those involved with “severe penalties”.

Although he makes it clear that one of these penalties would be to reduce the chances of a student getting a good job reference from the university, Steve’s other plans for the sneaky YikYakers remains a mystery.

Since the incident, students have been warned the IT team were looking into the Yik Yak problem with “sophisticated technology”.

When contacted by The Tab, Helene said: “It would be really useful if your article could discuss questions of ethical conduct on social media, the difference between public and private gossip, and what the appropriate amount of respect students should have for staff and fellow students is.”