By Annalise Mishler

It is no secret that the popular app Snapchat is essentially a staple of every college student’s existence. If you sit at the back of any classroom, lecture hall or even just open your eyes while you walk around campus, you will inevitably see someone taking a snap of himself or herself — or even another unknowing, unlucky bystander.

The infamous “SnapsNevada” (recently changed to “SnapsNevada15” and again to “WolfSnaps1” due to privacy concerns) Snapchat account allows students of Nevada (and non-students who wish they were students) to submit snaps and have them featured on the “My Story” of SnapsNevada. I was able to get in contact with the creator of the account — a man by the name of Richard — to find out a bit about the creation of SnapsNevada.

Richard had no idea that the account would become so popular. Over 14,000 people have added the account, and 9,000 regularly view the story.

You’re probably thinking: “What a fun way to connect with other students on campus and spread a positive image of the University of Nevada, Reno!”

Shockingly that hasn’t turned out to be the case. When one adds “WolfSnaps1” to their list of friends on Snapchat they can expect to sift through thousands of seconds of “pack tits,” “pack abs,” “pack nips,” and “pack ass.” For those of you clueless as to what that means — it’s an inordinate amount of half (or completely) naked guys and gals that find it fun to expose themselves for thousands of mind-numbing college students to look at when they are bored in class, at work, or at home.

Richard, along with those he has now recruited to help him manage the growing account, claimed that they didn’t expect such inappropriate content would be submitted when a bunch of college students were encouraged to send pictures in for all their peers to see.

This may seem like a fun and harmless account, but I argue that it should be looked at more carefully. (No, not literally). This account is contributing to our overall reputation as a school, which arguably isn’t the best reputation in the world.

A recent snap on the account showed a black background with the text, “my boyfriend broke up with me when he saw my tits on SnapsNevada #yolo.” Well, aren’t we all so happy that your relationship ended at the expense of getting to show your rack to a bunch of strangers?

It seems quite irresponsible to create such an over sexualized, racy, sleazy, scandalous environment that would likely increase relationship tensions and question our school’s reputation.

I’m not saying that this account is toxic and needs to be destroyed — just reevaluated. I’m certain many mindless observers really appreciate the account when they are especially bored or feeling the need to validate their existence. (Seriously, if you ever feel bad about yourself just go look at some of the snaps).

I am saying that things like Nevada Confessions, Yik Yak, Nevada Sluts (thank goodness that account got terminated) and SnapsNevada are only hurting our reputation as a school and reinforcing the negative opinions that so many hold about Reno. We have a lot more to offer than casinos and drunken college students.

Other schools, including Reno High School and universities such as UC Santa Cruz and Chico State University have joined in and started their own account like SnapsNevada. Is this something that we really want to be responsible for starting?

There is a reason that SnapsNevada recently had to rebuild their account — twice — and that is because they were reported so many times for displaying fairly inappropriate content. How many times will this account be recreated? Will it ever go away? Until then, the students of Nevada will continue sending in their pack tits, pack asses, pack abs and irrelevant selfies for the rest of the student body to see. Go Pack?

Annalise Mishler studies journalism. She can be reached at dcoffey@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @TheSagebrush.