Langston University was one of the many HBCU’s that joined the Fizz App’s new HBCU page, which allows students from each black university to connect virtually in an anonymous forum.
Fizz announced on December 3, 2024, via Instagram the arrival of the new update. It was met with students across campuses posting their thoughts and opinions, creating memes, and sharing photos and videos of their campus events and organizations. While many students enjoy the possibilities the update brings, there have also been many controversies and backlash. Students will post about campus problems, political stances, school ranking arguments and even sexual assault allegations.
For example, an anonymous student at Florida A&M University posted about a dryer catching fire, causing smoke to fill the hallways in a building on campus. Most recently, Mississippi Valley State University has received hate regarding their band performance at the presidential inauguration.
“It kinda sucks because most of the discussions I see on there have something to do with sex, drugs, or just talking crap about people. A lot of people like that the website’s anonymous, and they run with that,” said Madison Mills, biology and psychology major.
“It can get a bit messy. It was already messy at my school. But then once you got other schools involved, we are now getting insight into their drama,” said Kamari Riddick, a sophomore strategic communications major from Morgan State University.
Outside of the negativity, students use the page to let their thoughts out to a broader audience and network with others.
“You get to connect with other people that you would normally not connect to, you get to see like, different, I guess, HBCU cultures, like throughout the country,” said Jordynn Blackwell, a junior strategic communications major from Morgan State University.
Fizz held no discussions with campus branding ambassadors before the update happened. They were just as surprised as the general community.
“So I don’t post as much now, but I used to, because I used to be a moderator for Fizz my freshman year… we were in loop with everybody else. They really didn’t give us any information, like we were just there to moderate the post and stuff, make sure everything was going as it was supposed to,” said Kenyani LeBlanc, a junior biology major from Grambling State University.
Fizz recently announced that they will invite black students who attend predominantly white universities to access the Fizz page. They claim many students have called to have them presence on the page. Some students are confused by the statement and have shared their concerns.
“I don’t think that will go kind of well, like, this is already a big comparison between PWIS and HBCUs, and I know HBCU students were very passionate about stuff like that, so it just takes one wrong sentence for everything to just blow up,” said LeBlanc.
“Maybe if they had their own separate app, for a different community. I don’t know how well they’d be able to tie in with the way we think,” said Mills.
Students encourage the Fizz app and ambassadors to have better moderation to keep the HBCU page safe from drama and considerate of school publicity.
Ciera Agee
Staff Writer
Ciera Agee is a junior broadcast journalism major
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