A group of Cornell University students want a freshman TikTok star expelled because she isn't following the school's coronavirus rules, The Washington Post reports.
Students have gathered close to 2,000 signatures in a petition from a "Concerned Student Coalition," which calls for the ouster of freshman TikTok star Jessica Zhang. She has more than half a million followers on the video platform.
"Jessica Zhang has shown that she does not care to comply to public safety measures and wants to put other citizens at risk for the sake of her own entertainment," the online petition states.
The petition calls Zhang out for ignoring coronavirus precautions while partying.
"Some students don't have the luxury of going home to a quiet and healthy environment to focus on academics," the petition states. "Do not ruin it for everyone else."
As students return to college campuses, they are not returning to campus life as usual. Schools have put strict coronavirus mitigation measures in place to avoid large-scale outbreaks.
Cornell students told the newspaper they have to step up and police one another.
"The people who you wouldn't expect to snitch will snitch," Milan Broughton, a freshman at Cornell who signed the petition, told the Post. "It's kind of the culture that we need to have around. You need to hold everyone accountable."
Cornell's provost has committed to shutting down the campus if more than 250 coronavirus cases occur in a week, according to the newspaper.
Broughton said in order to avoid a shutdown, students need to "police ourselves."
Zhang posted a video on her TikTok account captioned "Apologies + No More Lies."
In the video, she said a "false narrative" has been circulating. She said her posts have been taken out of context and she was with people who tested negative for the virus.
"I wrongly believed it was safe for us to gather without masks, and I sincerely apologize to the Cornell and Ithaca community for making this mistake," she said.
Cornell's rules allow students to gather in crowds of less than 30 people, but they must wear masks and remain socially distanced.
Cornell wouldn't comment on any incidents involving Zhang specifically, but spokesman John Carberry told the newspaper that "a number of students" have violated the school's "behavioral compact."
He added that they have been held accountable.
Broughton reported Zhang to the vice president for student and campus life after seeing videos and pictures of her ignoring the rules. Students confronted Zhang in a GroupMe of the freshman class. Zhang replied to her classmates that the university was "taking action" against her, the newspaper reports.
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