A large group of 72 women’s and civil rights groups have asked for the Department of Education’s help in protecting students and faculty from abusive speech and threats made on university campuses via the Yik Yak app. In a letter published this week, the organizations seek a formal "guidance" to colleges from the Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and hope to specifically put such online threats under the umbrella of federal gender and racial equality legislation.

The purportedly anonymous social network allows users to leave messages within a certain geographic area. While the company’s website doesn’t use the word “anonymous,” it does boast on its Features page that users can “keep their privacy” while on the app. In some cases, Yik Yak has handed over user data to law enforcement to prosecute people making violent threats.

These groups, which include the Feminist Majority Foundation, Advocates for Youth, and the National Black Justice Coalition, say that some complaints already filed with the Department of Education have gone nowhere. Why? Because the existing guidance does not specifically make reference to Yik Yak and other similar social networks.

The Department of Education last issued such guidance in 2010, prior to the birth of Yik Yak and other similar apps. "Harassing conduct may take many forms, including verbal acts and name-calling; graphic and written statements, which may include use of cell phones or the Internet; or other conduct that may be physically threatening, harmful, or humiliating," the Department of Education stated.

"Some universities have taken the position have that this isn't on campus, so we don't have to deal with it," said Alison Asarnow, an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment cases. "We need to impress on colleges and universities that yes, this is your responsibility; that's what we meant."

With a new guidance, aggrieved parties might see a modified version of Yik Yak or perhaps even a geo-fence (as is the case around many high schools). In addition, if those more intermediate steps are not taken, students and faculty might have an easier time filing complaints and lawsuits.

“A megaphone for hate mongering”

The groups write:

Schools have a legal obligation to remediate harassment, whether in-person or online, that creates a hostile environment. Once a school knows, or reasonably should know, that harassment has created a hostile environment, both Title IX and Title VI require the school to take "immediate and appropriate action to investigate or otherwise determine what occurred" and take "prompt and effective steps" to eliminate the hostile environment, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects. … At the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for example, Yik Yak users sexually harassed a feminist student group by threatening sexual assault and physical harm after individual members spoke out against rape culture and incidents of sexual assault on campus. At Eastern Michigan University, students posted dozens of demeaning, crude, and sexually explicit comments and imagery about three female professors on Yik Yak.

The advocates cite a study from 2014 Pew Research finding that, among women surveyed between ages 18 to 24, 26 percent of them say they have been "stalked online." A similar number report being the "target of online sexual harassment."

"Yik Yak can and must take responsibility to prevent its app from continuing to be used as a weapon to target individuals and vulnerable groups and as a megaphone for hate mongering," Debra S. Katz, an attorney and colleague of Asarnow's, said in a statement. Her law firm earlier this year filed a Title IX complaint concerning Yik Yak against the University of Mary Washington.

"Yik Yak cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the egregious incidents of sexual and racial harassment and threats on college campuses happening on its platform while simultaneously touting the app for its ability to create ‘community,’" she added. "Yik Yak can, and must, do more to help remedy this problem."

Hilary McQuaide, a Yik Yak spokeswoman, told Ars in a statement, "Guarding against misuse is something we take incredibly seriously. For our part, we work hard to encourage a positive and supportive community environment on Yik Yak."

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

UPDATE 6:23pm ET: Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the DoE, e-mailed Ars in a statement: "OCR has received the letter and looks forward to responding."