Spotted: No More

Students posting on Leicester ‘Spotted’ pages will soon have to face the consequences of their actions as the University and SU threaten disciplinary action.

The original statement from the University, made on 28 May 2013, and reported by The Tab at the time, the University said:

According to the University of Leicester’s newspaper, The Ripple, admins of the pages were contacted by the University and the Students’ Union and urged to ‘think before they post’.

Previous posts on the site include: “To the guy two years ago who was watching the Pamela Anderson sex tape in the third floor loud area… I will never forget you, you absolute legend.”

It appears that the issue has come to the attention of students and staff once more after the Students’ Union chose to extend their ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy towards harassment of any kind on social media sites, and more widely, the internet.

Many students will of course be pleased to see such a change, but it has left many asking why the university feels the need to try to police the internet and carefully monitor the actions of it’s students.

University of Leicester Women’s Officer, Rachel Holland, told Students’ Union paper The Ripple: “The way to combat it is to make it uncool. I think it’s a peer pressure thing: people really left it unquestioned. It started off okay, but then it started getting very directed. So many people use the library, it’s impossible to avoid the page, and it’s impossible not to recognise someone who has been talked about on there.”

The site currently has 3,611 likes, though nothing has been posted since November 12. It is not clear whether any action has been taken against the page to prevent it from posting, or if any students have been identified and called before the University and the Students’ Union to explain their actions.

The debate over ‘Spotted’ pages is sure to rage on in the new year and this is by no means the end to the story.