Hunter College High School, an elite Manhattan public school, is investigating an all-boy clique called “MILK,” after an anonymous student leaked screenshots of an online chat room, in which the students use homophobic slurs, rate girls’ appearances, and insult classmates, according to the New York Post.
The school learned of the chat room after an anonymous person (now reportedly referred to as “Snowden” by Hunter students) with access (perhaps a shit-stirring Regina George equivalent) distributed screenshots.
Some students, according to the Post, feel that the MILK boys shouldn’t be punished, since the chat room was meant to be private; others praise the leaking as “heroism.”
Hunter is a free, ultra-competitive school that is ranked one of the highest in the country. In a 2013 study based on Manhattanites’ Twitter activity, it was also ranked adjacent to* the saddest spot in the city.
“We are concerned about the recent allegations about the contents and are investigating whether there have been any violations of our campus schools regulations and policies,” said Hunter Schools Acting Director Lisa Siegmann in a statement to the Post.
The school did not immediately respond to Jezebel’s request for comment.
Correction: The study that found Hunter College High School to be the saddest spot in New York City amended its findings one day after the New York Times wrote about it. The Times published this correction:
The City Room column on Sept. 26, about a study that concluded that the highest percentage of negative Twitter postings in Manhattan came from Hunter College High School, was based on erroneous information from the research group that released the study. The group, New England Complex Systems Institute, now says it has reviewed the data and found that the concentration of unhappy postings came from a Twitter user just south of the school, not from the school grounds.
So, HCHS is, in fact, adjacent to the saddest spot in Manhattan.
