Who doesn’t love a shout-out from @ElonGDIProblems addressing Jesus as “Everyone’s favorite GDI”? There are tons of anonymous Twitter accounts focused on Elon University’s campus culture, and, let’s face it, they’re witty and entertaining and we probably scroll a little slower when a tweet from @ElonConfessions appears on our feed.

Last month, @Elon_Black_Prob tweeted, “Just because the professor mentioned diversity doesn’t mean you all stop writing typing and texting to look at the lone black person.” Two weeks ago, @TheElonGay tweeted, “Stop what you’re doing and go pet the cats/bunnies/puppies outside Moseley! #CuteOverload.”

These posts are funny because they’re Elon-centric and they point out some of the ridiculous things Elon students do. In a way, they have defined our community and some of the individual groups within it. But most students don’t spend time considering the stereotypes these accounts promote.

Last month, a controversy involving @TheElonD began after the individual behind the account posted a tweet when the Elon University baseball team beat North Carolina State. The tweet read, “The Elon baseball team just gave @ncstatebaseball #TheElonD. Waiting on the Smith Jackson email because that may or may not be rape.” Some students expressed their disdain for this tweet because it made light of rape culture on our campus.

Sure, some Elon students were offended by this tweet, but few seem to consider the real implications of a series of seemingly harmless Twitter accounts that divide our campus into clean-cut stereotypes. Think about it. There’s an account that defines what it’s like to be gay on our campus, another that describes what it’s like to be unaffiliated with Greek Life, what it’s like to be black, to have less money than the majority of Elon students and many more.

It seems the most outspoken and perhaps the wittiest voices are coming through with these accounts, but, these voices may not be the most accurate representations of our student body.

When @ElonGDIProblems retweeted @SororitySouth when they tweeted “Happy wife, happy life!” and added “#makemeasandwich,” doesn’t it serve to further the divide between Greeks and non-Greeks? And when    @Elon_Black_Prob tweeted, “If I put in a work order why hasn’t my light been fixed? Must be because I’m black,” it’s amusing, but also highly stereotypical. Each account is like its own clique that portrays a pigeonholed image of what it’s like to be a part of that crowd.

Elon does have a few accounts directed at the entire campus. Two examples of these are @ElonConfessions and @OnlyAtElon. Although they too can promote stereotypes, at least they are promoting campus-wide generalities as opposed to those within individual on-campus groups. The point is these anonymous Elon-centric accounts are amusing and really quite clever. We just ought to consider what we’re saying about ourselves and our university with these accounts. They glorify stereotypes and while this can be wildly entertaining, we should also take a step back and consider if they are accurately portraying Elon and whether or not this is the image we want to send. to the rest of the world In particular, we are influencing prospective students who can easily access these accounts and will likely form an opinion of our university by scanning these Twitter feeds.

Do we really want to be telling prospective students that the black students at Elon believe their work orders aren’t being processed because they’re black? And do the non-affiliated students really believe girls in sororities are here for their MRS degrees?

Probably not, but prospective students might think they do. These tweets are all in good fun until someone takes them seriously. We should take a moment to think about how these accounts serve to promote stereotypes and how our campus culture comes across to prospective students and to others outside the “Elon bubble.”