USU Gripe Night revived on Twitter for its semiannual event
Yesterday, Utah State University students and alumni used the hashtag #USUGripe to voice concerns and complaints about the university for the semiannual Gripe Night.
The event started at 7 p.m. Wednesday and continued for 24 hours.
The most popular topics discussed were diversity, mental health, the university’s handling of COVID-19, on-campus parking and students not wearing masks and not social distancing at football and basketball games.
Several accounts complained about the university not speaking up more about the Black Lives Matter movement, and not supporting the LGBTQ community. @TomoyaAverett said: “Y’all can put as many minority students as you want on posters and ads but until y’all can prove that you are committed to making USU a safe and welcoming environment for more than just white LDS students, I’m not buying it.”
Some users griped about the mental health options offered on campus. Some said there are not enough counselors and students have to wait for months to receive help. Some students directly complained about psychiatrist Brian Merrill. Other tweets said the university’s way of helping students’ mental health was disappointing, overall. @Abby_Nielsen88 said: “Hire more therapy counselors for students. I’m tired of hearing students say they can’t get help at @CAPSAservices because they are 3 months out on appointments.”
On-campus parking, an issue discussed at previous Gripe Nights, was also tweeted about. @wednesdaydear_ said: “The parking. We pay a small mountain in tuition and fees most of us don’t/ can’t use. Why are we getting gouged for parking that keeps getting converted to faculty parking?!”
Many accounts tweeted about the university’s handling of COVID-19. There were complaints saying there aren’t enough mask-wearing and social distancing regulations. @lolo_b01 said: “Taking off spring semester and considering submitting a transfer application to the U of U because of how horribly USU has handled COVID-19.”
There were also tweets saying it was unfair that some events were cancelled while sporting events are allowed to proceed. One account, @megcod6, called out USU Hurd for posting pictures on their social media accounts of attendees not wearing masks and not social distancing while at football or basketball games.
The USU Twitter account, @USUAggies, responded by saying, “We know,” with a GIF of “The Office” character Michael Scott.
At one point, @USUAggies allegedly blocked a student’s account, @ZGrantBess, after he called the university “bastards” because of the library’s lack of a back door.
Other gripes included how professors should be more lenient with deadlines, how online classes are going, student fees and paying full tuition for online classes.
@BehmBryson tweeted a meme of former President Barack Obama, with a statement: “Me rewarding myself for teaching myself.”
Spring break being cancelled was also discussed, as well as students complaining about receiving an excessive amount of emails regarding IDEA Surveys.
There were comical gripes as well. Some were about business students, the fountains near the Taggart Student Center not being turned into hot tubs and missing Big Blue.