They're very, very sorry. Brown University students apologized to Malia Obama for posting photos of the President's daughter allegedly playing beer pong during a recent visit to the school's campus.
An editorial titled, "Sorry, Malia Obama," was published this past Tuesday, Oct. 20, in The Brown Daily Herald, and included a detailed apology to the First Daughter on behalf of the school's students.
"The college application and selection process is stressful for most
students who go through it, but one can only imagine how much the stress
multiplies when the whole nation is watching. That is what Malia Obama
is experiencing right now," it read. "News outlets as prominent as the New York Times
are covering her touring process, and students at elite colleges across
the country cross their fingers and chat over dining hall food about
how cool it would be to go to the same school as President Obama’s
daughter."
POTUS'
eldest recently visited the Providence, R.I., Ivy League university as a
prospective option for her continued education. While there, Malia
stopped by a college party, where someone took a Snapchat photo later blasted by The Daily Caller that showed the 17-year-old standing by a beer pong table topped by red Solo cups.
BuzzFeed
reported that one anonymous tweeter claimed, "Malia Obama was taking
shots and playing beer pong at a party last night LOL."
The Brown editorial noted that students didn't realize their social
media posts would go viral. "Some of the tweets include photographs of
her that were clearly taken when she was not looking. Many of them
mention her presence at a party, where she was seen taking shots and
playing beer pong," the editorial continued. "The motivation to take
these pictures was obvious: being at a party with the president’s
daughter was an exciting, unexpected moment that many of us wanted to
share with our friends. We often do not think about our tweets and
Snapchats reaching anyone besides our friends and followers, and
certainly not news outlets with wide circulation like Buzzfeed. Many
Brown students were surprised and embarrassed to see themselves cited in
the articles, as other Brown students posted them on Facebook with
disappointed captions that criticized their peers for not simply leaving
the 17-year-old alone on her college visit."
The editorial board concluded that it was "a shame" that the high school
senior had no privacy during her visit. "Malia did not choose to grow
up in the White House, and it is unfair that everything she does at just
17 years old is subject to such harsh scrutiny," the editorial
concluded. "While the chances of her selecting Brown have probably
decreased since the publication of those articles, if she does ever come
back to Brown, hopefully next time we will 'have more chill.'"