Welcome to the University of North Dakota new students, and welcome back to those returning to campus this fall. Many of us knew of the developments that the state of North Dakota was taking towards banning the use of Tik Tok by higher education institutions, but the ban has officially been carried out. The decision was made on March 30th 2023, however, it did not take effect until July 1st. Most of us were in our hometowns recovering from the turmoil of this past spring semester, or winter 2.0 as I call it. Now that we are back on campus, what does this mean for us and our crippling addiction to Tik Tok?  

For those of us with unlimited data plans, it does not do much. You can use Tik Tok on UND’s campus as long as you are not connected to their Wifi. If you try to open the app while connected, SWAT members will not come after you, but you will be stuck watching the same Tik Tok over and over again. Students who live off campus can continue to scroll through their feed before they go to bed at night, but those in the dorms can only scroll if they disconnect from UND Protected first. UND’s main Tik Tok account is no longer active, but their content is still viewable. The Ralph Englestead Arena’s Tik Tok is still active, and is posting amazing content as gear up for the upcoming Hockey season, but the username is not what you think. 

Overall, the board of higher education’s decision does not effect us much as students. The ban was passed because of “national security concerns,” which lead UND to delete Tik Tok off of all UND devices, and to block it when we access their network. At the end of the day, for security reasons or not, higher education in North Dakota is missing a marketing oppurtunity by not utilizing it. Although university advertisement can be cringey, it gets there name out there, and drives students to campus. If we are not moving towards the future of advertisement, will we be left in the dust?  

Claire Arneson is a Dakota Student Section Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].