The internet’s divided over how to receive a college student’s critique on the bullying that allegedly goes down at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

A user who goes by @yihawnaw uploaded his TikTok earlier this week, and it opened with a clip from another video that proclaimed, “HBCUs are filled with nothing but insecure bullies.”

The TikToker in question built off of this clip and added in his own thoughts on the matter, noting that he “sadly [has] to agree with” the statement.

He noted that this is his very first semester an at HBCU (which was never named), and he feels as though his “nerdy” interests — which include watching anime and building computers — are looked down on by his peers.

“N***as on campus, they see that s**t as, like, not normal for a Black person to be into. They consider that s**t ‘white s**t,'” he said. “They see that s**t as weird and white, and they don’t associate with people who do that s**t.”

“And another thing, I don’t have their particular fashion sense,” he continued. “I don’t like wearing skinny jeans with, like, a Bape [aka A Bathing Ape] shirt or some s**t.”

“They see me walk onto campus in, like, baggy clothes and maybe a pink shirt and s**t like that, and they’re like, ‘Oh, that n***a’s gay. He doesn’t dress like us,” the student added.

The TikToker proceeded to then home in on this last point.

“The homophobia on campus is, like, a big-ass deal, too. It’s a huge issue,” “I’m pansexual, and I’m usually very open about my sexuality with people,” he says. “But I don’t feel welcome enough on campus and I don’t feel safe enough to [casually disclose this].”

He then said that he feels ostracized by others on campus for painting his nails being “outside the norm,” and he also shared that a friend of his has had similar instances of being judged by HBCU students for listening to “white music.”

This upload was also accompanied by a lengthy caption that shed further light on the user’s thoughts.

“I’ve been lucky enough to find people who share similar interests [to] me on campus, but the way I am treated and the way I see others treated simply for how they dress or what they like is unacceptable,” @yihawnaw wrote.

“This is not to say that all students at HBCU’s are bad or that PWI’s are better than HBCU’s cus that’s simply not the case, but people need to jus chill out on the stereotyping and bullying of people they’ve never even talked to on campus,” he continued, clarifying that he was merely trying to share his experiences and not bash the HBCU community.

@yihawnaw #stitch with @iheartjaidior I’ve been lucky enough to find people who share similar interests in other me on campus, but the way I am treated and the way I see others treated simply for how they dress or what they like is unacceptable. This is not to say that all students at HBCU’s are bad or that PWI’s are better than HBCU’s cus that’s simply not the case, but people need to jus chill out on the stereotyping and bullying of people they’ve never even talked to on campus. #hbcu #needstobesaid #fyp #bullying ♬ original sound – Yihawnaw

Beneath his video, the original poster (OP) received a good amount of support, with users encouraging him to stay true to himself in the comment section; there were also people empathizing with his situation, and one user went as far as writing, “This is exactly y I can’t be around my people frl!!!”

The upload soon made its way onto Twitter, where people were a bit quicker to turn against OP’s sentiment.

One user accused the TikToker of having a “sense of superiority” over his fellow HBCU-goers.

Another proclaimed that OP himself was the problem, not the HBCU community.

However, there were others who pointed out that the “unprovoked harassment” against OP ultimately proved his point.

There were also others who took the opportunity to share their negative experiences with HBCUs.

Regardless of personal stance, it’s important to note that different people have different college experiences, and these can vary widely from HBCU to HBCU.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Blavity-UBlavity-U-NewsCollegeHBCU studentsTiktok