To our dear Trinity Community,
VP Stovall and I write to you today regarding some recent events that have impacted members of our community. On Oct.ober 22nd, at our weekly Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, our advisor, Dean Edonick, took to the floor to share some of the effects anonymous platforms such as Fizz have had on our community, which included a student’s attempt to harm themselves. In light of this alarming news, members of the SGA were caught in a moment of disbelief, as this signaled a moment of true awareness of the impacts platforms such as Fizz can have on our community. For VP Stovall and me, this devastating news reverberated through us, as it truly demonstrated a call to action.
Like many of you, the novelty of Fizz became something we found very amusing when the platform first launched on our campus in the spring of my sophomore year. As the app continued to gain users, the content quickly evolved into a medium for individuals to air their grievances with one another or against each other. As our own friends and classmates became the targets of the disrespectful, demeaning, and discriminatory language, we saw that the content being posted on Fizz fostered an ecosystem of hatred that minimized the voices, experiences, and humanity of members of our campus community.
In our meeting, the SGA agreed that the culture fostered by Fizz does not simply begin and end on the platform; it proliferates further in the ways we interact with one another daily, across campus. This has been something we have noticed on campus, as the overwhelming sense of being perceived has changed many of the ways VP Stovall and I carry ourselves on campus. This recent realization, admittedly, does not reflect the Trinity experience that drew me to our university. The Trinity we know is a place of deep care, collaboration, and unequivocal respect.
In essence, the issue is not Fizz itself, but the general respect we hold for one another. As we have noticed this sensation across campus, we have made it our mission, as leaders in SGA, to embody the values of One Trinity Place, which is more than a mere address, but a place we can all call home. At One Trinity Place, students of all cultural backgrounds, gender identities, nationalities, political ideologies, and religious affiliations have a space to thrive and grow. At One Trinity Place, we all belong.
In writing this letter to you today, we urge you to embody the core values of our University, as a place where every student is destined for success and a life worth living. We know what our community is capable of, and we are sure we can get to that place, together.
With the warmest regards,
President Ratrut & Vice President Stovall
