It’s not every day someone’s dating life becomes a campus-wide topic of conversation. This week, I drew the short straw.
At the top of my Instagram feed on Monday, I was greeted with a picture of me and my boyfriend reading on the quad.
What made that scene picture-worthy? He had his arm around my shoulders.
Scandalous! Outrageous! Shameful!
But we weren’t the first victims. Beginning last week, the anonymously-run Instagram account, @hillsdating, started posting pictures of couples from all around campus.
The pictures are all hyper-zoomed in, and most—to my knowledge—were taken without the couple’s knowledge.
Less than 24 hours after our picture was posted, campus reacted to the new page. The anonymous social media app Jodel and popular Hillsdale meme accounts picked up on the account and reposted its photos, critiquing the account.
The backlash has been widespread and, as one of the page’s targets, much appreciated. The Hillsdank Times, a Collegian spoof account, reposted the picture with the headline, “Sheltered Conservative Shocked When Fellow Student Has a Girlfriend, Decides to Post on Instagram.”
When students go to Hillsdale, we know we’re signing up for a small, and inevitably gossip-filled, campus. But students shouldn’t—and don’t—endorse such an obvious breach of privacy. No one should walk into the dining hall and overhear strangers talking about their personal lives because of an anonymously posted picture that was posted without consent.
I’ll be the first to call out PDA. But couples should feel comfortable interacting normally without fear of being stalked.
Hillsdale students should be the first to respect the privacy of others. The owner of the account should get off Instagram and go reread the Honor Code—or maybe get a Hillsdate themselves. Something tells me they’re lonely.
Elyse Hawkins is a sophomore studying politics and journalism and is an assistant editor.