Campus Echo StaffFizz, an app where students post anonymously, has become a topic of controversy among students at N.C. Central University after recent reports of bullying and harassment taking place on the platform.
The app is an integral part of NCCU campus life for many students due to information shared about the university community. Recent discussions about bullying have arisen on Fizz following the death of NCCU sophomore Zyarre Prince in March and unconfirmed rumors that he faced bullying.
The app, only available on iPhone, features a similar layout to social media app X or Reddit, where users create discussion posts and others can respond. Anyone registering must use their student email address to get access.
Chancellor Karrie G. Dixon addressed the misuse of anonymous social media apps in a campus-wide email and Instagram statement two days following Prince’s death.
Dixon said in her statement that anonymous apps like Fizz have been used to spread “anonymous, slanderous, defamatory, derogatory or threatening content.”
Discussions began among students about the potential toxicity that Fizz brings to campus life late in March. There were also posts on Fizz calling for the app to be banned on campus.
“People don’t use it in a positive light,” sophomore Daira Vargas-Barahona shared. “It’s kind of like how people used to be in middle school where they would kind of post things about other people.”
NCCU’s Chief Brand Officer Stephen Fusi said that the university’s information technology services restricted access to Fizz and other anonymous social media apps in 2024. This followed a UNC Board of Governors policy that applied to all campuses in the UNC System after student government leaders expressed concerns about anonymous apps’ effects on mental health.
But with the use of hotspots and data, students still have ready access to the app on campus.
Dixon also said the student body presidents from each university within the UNC system “really pushed” for the UNC system to set expectations on how to use anonymous social media.
Fusi told the Campus Echo that the Dean of Students’ office receives reports of bullying every year. He added that students are not immune from the consequences of bullying on Fizz.
“If they bully or harass, then they are not meeting the expectation of the positive ways to use social media and technology,” Dixon said. “ [If] our student code of conduct is in violation…we will follow the student code of conduct to address whatever the issue is.”
However, tracking down students and their accounts may not be easy for the university.
“There aren’t any NCCU administrators who can see the records of who’s registered within Fizz or any of these apps,” Fusi said.
He explained that only after an investigation involving law enforcement can the university access identifying information to see who is registered.
Freshman Skyler Johnson recalled a time when her friends were posted by a user asking if anyone was dating them. Many students shared similar stories of themselves or their friends being put on Fizz without their consent.
“We’re grown enough. You should know how to handle yourself on this platform,” Johnson said
Sophomore business administration student Carl Dean said that he faced harassment on the app after making a campaign flyer for a Student Government Association campaign that appeared to look similar to a flyer from a campaign from a previous year. Dean said he wasn’t aware of the similarities because he wasn’t attending NCCU at the time.
“They posted it saying [that] I kind of copied them, but I wasn’t even in college,” he said.
Dean said that the app would better serve students if it were monitored to ensure safety and that “we’re helping out each other on campus.”
Dixon said that throughout her time at NCCU, she has prioritized mental health and will continue to emphasize it.
“My letter really emphasized the importance of us as a community [and] meeting the expectation of ‘what does it truly mean to protect our peace and truly support one another?’” Dixon said.
This story was written by De’Zaria Lucas and Charles Green.
