The students of Millikin University have always possessed a deep love for the university. However, that deep love for the school doesn’t always transfer over to a deep love for fellow students.

Not even two days before I returned to MU, I had already seen hostility between the different sorts of students that occupy campus. While browsing upon Yik Yak, the anonymous social media page, I came across a specific Yak that demonstrated the hate that students have for each other.

The post, which cannot repeated on the account of language, expressed a certain students disgruntled attitude towards theatre majors, specifically how obnoxious the perpetrator believed theatre majors to be. The post, which was completely out of line, was also followed with equal resentment, as other students who commented on the Yak, specifically theatre majors, bashed on other students by stereotyping other students across campus.

Sadly, this is how other students were treating each other not even a week after the second semester had commenced.

To be completely honest, why do many students at Millikin University act as if they’re still in high school? Of course, there are people who aren’t going to like other students across campus, but it’s completely childish to form cliques around campus to keep away the people they don’t like. College is the time we are supposed to branch out from our beginnings and learn about all different kinds of people. It’s a time to take away all of the prejudices that were held when we were younger and begin to view other people as people, not just stereotypes.

What does this mean for us after we graduate? Are we still going to look at others who are different from us as irritating people who we should void out of our lives? No! We’re going to deal with people who irritate us for the rest of our lives, with no way to avoid it. Instead of bashing on each other like immature middle school students, we need to learn to kindly accept each other’s differences, and, if that doesn’t work, do what we were all told when we were children; if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.

This hate isn’t just one select group of students, its various groups. It’s Greek students, it’s athletes, it’s theatre majors and it’s music majors. We all have our differences, and maybe everyone complains about those who try to bring them down, but seriously, do we have to continue to cause grief, anger and hostility towards each other?