AUC Confessions Groups Breed Controversy, Students Say

By: Malika Ferot
@Malikaferot 

Despite being notorious for bullying and harassment, there is momentum among some on campus to set up yet another Facebook group centered on  student “confessions”. 

Not unlike many other universities and schools around the world, AUC has had several anonymous platforms over the past years where students were able to share their secrets, opinions, and often harsh critique, scrutiny and judgment of their peers.

Ahmed Abouzeid, a Film senior, recalls when he first heard of the groups as a freshman. 

“I remember when I joined AUC, the confessions group was way more toxic in terms of bullying. The posts were about harassing people for their looks, body shapes and even smells.”

Mention of the groups on current AUC fora can be traced as far back as 2014, most likely inspired by the massive group Cairo Confessions, dating back to 2004, and now ranking more than 200,000 members.

At least three major groups existed at one point, but have now been deleted.

Some posts on these groups reached dangerous levels of incitement, involving not only bullying and harassment, but even encouraging people to post their suicide letters. 

The most recent page was shut down before the beginning of the fall semester this year; on September 22, more than 400 students voted against creating another confessions group when polled on the popular Rate AUC Professors Facebook page.

Construction Engineering Junior Farida Karamany commented on the poll, pleading not to start another confessions group: 

 “Please please please don’t. Some people here are really rude .. don’t give them the power of posting s*** anonymously.”

Anonymous posting or “confessing” are in many and most cases across the internet used for hate speech, bullying, and sexual harassment. On the other hand, anonymity can also be an opportunity to speak freely. 

Journalism and Mass Communication alumna Neda Taher and current Construction Engineering student Yazeed Ezzeldin are nonetheless planning to start a new confessions group because they believe students need to have a safe platform to voice their concerns.   

“A page like this is needed. A proof to that, is that a person made a post in Rate AUC Professors on behalf of another student saying ‘I need to complain about a professor, and I don’t want them to know who I am.’ That is why I believe a page like this should exist for the AUCians,”  Taher told The Caravan.  

Ultimately, the nature of gossip sites depends on how administrators manage these groups, and how effective they are in filtering the confessions and messages. 

Amr Ayman, a Mechanical Engineering alumnus and moderator of the most recent group, AUC Confessions X, agrees that there is a demand for anonymous platforms, and that a space to speak freely without the fear of being judged is crucial. 

“I am with creating a new group since my group has proven beneficial to connect students during the pandemic, provided a medium for confessors to seek help to overcome problems such as depression, and ask for advice on all sorts of sensitive topics,” Ayman told The Caravan.

He cautions that any such new group requires the right moderators. When asked whether Taher and Ezzeldin would be capable of such a responsibility, Ayman responded that he didn’t know them personally, but if they needed any help they could always reach out to him.

During his tenure as moderator, where he filtered more than 7,000 anonymous confessions, Ayman himself earned the reputation of being fair and balanced.

“Amr was not biased toward anyone or anything, (he) managed the group really well,” said Construction Engineering junior Ghaidaa Abdelhameed, a user of the previous AUC Confessions group. 

Taher and Ezzeldin are looking to reproduce the culture Ayman managed to uphold, and strive toward his ethical standard and integrity. 

“We want to continue his legacy, and with the idea of being as objective as possible to create a safe platform, where the AUC community can express everything they need anonymously,”  Taher added. 

Even though the bullying and harassment subsided with the last confessions group and during Amr’s time as a moderator, several students believe that in the comfort and safety of anonymity, this kind of behavior is inevitable. 

“I still think that confession groups are inherently wrong because even in AUC Confessions X, it creates this mindset of objectification and sexualization,” Film senior Abouzeid said. 

There appears to be both the need and inevitability of such groups, as different versions are sprouting across social media platforms. 

Earlier this semester, two instagram pages named AUC_Confessions21 and AUCgossip were created, having last posted in the first week of October and November, respectively. 

However, the pages both have less than 100 followers and have yet to engage in any of the previously mentioned problematic topics. 

The posts of AUC_Confessions21 revolve primarily around crushes, and AUCgossip only has one current post about a couple getting caught kissing in the parking lot by security.