Dear U. of Illinois, Think Before You Tweet

Having just walked from one end of my college campus to the other for a class, I find myself a tad disgruntled and frozen. As the daily average temperature in Ithaca, N.Y., has not reached above freezing for weeks, I have noticed that many of my friends and classmates have had shifts in their moods — and not for the better. Long story short, college students hate freezing weather. I have seen a plethora of tweets and Facebook statuses featuring the typical ice-crusted screenshot of someone's weather app accompanied with an angry comment of discontent. These actions are understandable. The ones of some University of Illinois students are not.

The students received the following email from Chancellor Phyllis Wise on January 26:

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:Classes and operations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will proceed as scheduled on Monday, Jan. 27. Please use caution as you travel in and around campus during what is forecast to be an extremely cold and windy day and night.Sincerely,Phyllis M. WiseChancellor

Students thought the temperature of -24 degrees warranted a snow day, and they took to Twitter in an appalling fashion to voice their dissatisfaction, creating the hateful hashtag #FuckPhyllis and making racist comments in angry response to the chancellor's harmless email. There was even a fake Phyllis Wise Twitter account, which included offensive photos and memes.

Some students are continuing to use the hateful hashtag, and why is beyond me. Others are utilizing it to get the attention of students who are still throwing this irrational and racist Twitter fit, including university alumni who are expressing concern with the current student body's behavior and digital responsibility.

Let this be a lesson: please, please, please, think before you tweet.