By: Mary Renfroe
For this piece, I was assigned to profile someone related to my politics beat. I chose Arianna Mbunwe because she has quickly become a widely known social activist on campus this semester. To complete this piece I interviewed Mbunwe, her rally co-coordinator Jessica Jaconetti, and UGA spokesperson Greg Trevor. I also did research on Mbunwe’s twitter, Greek Life, and COVID-19.
ATHENS, Ga.—Holding signs with sayings such as “UGA! STOP COVID FROM GROWING” and “DON’T MAKE ME BARK AT YOU! WEAR A MASK,” students and Athens’ residents gathered in front of the Arch on Sept. 19 to protest the University of Georgia’s COVID-19 response.
Working by the Arch Arianna Mbunwe is focused on her laptop, writing up items for her internship. A typical scene for a university student, except for the fact that Mbunwe is sitting in the middle of this COVID-19 rally that she helped to organize herself. Between speeches, interviews, and headshots, instead of taking a moment to herself, she is already back to work, recalled her co-coordinator Jessica Jaconetti.
With nearly 50 people showing up in support, the rally demanding improvement on UGA’s COVID-19 response was deemed a success by Mbunwe and Jaconetti. It was a moment of empowerment for the organizers who spent weeks planning the protest, but Mbunwe did not have much time to take in her accomplishment.
Near the end of the rally, Mbunwe received screenshots from an anonymous sender of racist, homophobic and sexist GroupMe messages between members of UGA’s Lambda Chi Alpha chapter. Many of these messages were specifically targeted at Mbunwe, one calling her “a foul, miserable creature” and another saying “Lord give me the strength to not call that woman a racial slur.”
“I sat for like an hour thinking about what I should do [with the screenshots], and then I thought you know what, they already made their decision, and then I posted it,” said Mbunwe.
Mbunwe is a third-year, pre-med and political science major at UGA who has quickly risen as a social activist on campus and is widely known for her Twitter identity, “Ari Exposes UGA.” At the beginning of the fall 2020 semester, Mbunwe had about 300 followers; now she has amassed over 5,000.
While Mbunwe’s Twitter began as a personal account to share her own thoughts and grievances, this semester it quickly morphed into something else when she began to receive anonymous information about inadequate social distancing practices. She soon became a voice for those who could not speak out.
Those that send Mbunwe information are typically other UGA students who follow people involved in Greek Life on social media. While these anonymous students may disagree with how their peers are acting, they do not feel comfortable sharing these posts themselves, so they forward them on for Mbunwe to share.
“The people that are sharing this information with me couldn’t post it on their own personal Twitters because I know they would get in trouble, so I might as well stick out my own neck because people need to know. I don’t care about getting in trouble,” she said.
Growing up as a Black, gay woman in a predominately white area in the South has made COVID-19 relief a special interest of Mbunwe, as COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting the Black community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black or African-American, non-Hispanic persons have COVID-19 death rates that are 2.8 times those of white, non-Hispanic persons. In Georgia, 3,521 Black people have died due to COVID-19, according to the Georgia Department of Health.
Her tweet showing a video of UGA Alpha Omicron Pi’s bid day with unmasked girls packed on balconies, captioned “not a mask in sight just vibes” is what really gained her account traction. The video gained 44.5K views and 1.3K likes. This was her first direct attack on UGA Greek Life’s COVID-19 practices.
From there she went on to expose members of UGA’s Delta Zeta, Alpha Phi, Phi Mu, Alpha Delta Pi, Kappa Delta, Zeta Tau Alpha, Sigma Kappa, Lambda Chi Alpha and other members of the Greek community for perpetuating the spread of COVID-19 or for being racist.
In order to verify the information that she receives, Mbunwe confirms the identity of those that request anonymity from her and confirms the identity of the student that they request she posts about. Additionally, in the case of the Lambda Chi Alpha GroupMe screenshots, Mbunwe also verified from other sources that the messages were in fact from members of the fraternity.
“I just share what I get. I don’t have a personal vendetta with Greek life, but I do think that their actions right now are bad and should have some sort of consequences, but the university seems to disagree,” said Mbunwe.
While Mbunwe may just be the messenger, she still receives lots of hate. Alexa Dervishian, a member of Alpha Phi, even went so far as to threaten to sue Mbunwe after Mbunwe reposted one of Dervishian’s Instagram posts on her Twitter.
All of this culminated with Mbunwe receiving the Lambda Chi Alpha GroupMe screenshots. While this accusation against Lambda Chi Alpha would be bigger than any of her other tweets, Mbunwe knew she had to post them. People deserved to know what these men felt was okay to say, said Mbunwe.
“They were just mad that they were caught doing something, and that she called them out. A Black woman being powerful definitely scares them. I’m sure she’s still the topic of conversation in many frat GroupMes,” said Jaconetti.
After the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and racial tensions over the summer, many Greek organizations have had their own racial reckonings and been forced to face their racist history. Some Greek chapters have even decided to disband, including Delta Tau Delta at American University, according to The Washington Post.
After Mbunwe posted the screenshots, Lambda Chi Alpha decided to self-suspend. The Interfraternity Council at UGA and Lambda Chi Alpha Nationals condemned the racist remarks made in those GroupMe messages, but it remains to be seen if any other action will be taken against Lambda Chi Alpha.
In September, when UGA was asked about disciplinary action for Lambda Chi Alpha, the university spokesperson simply responded that the investigation was ongoing and to refer to their previously released statement, according the New York Times.
Mbunwe opened an investigation with UGA’s Equal Opportunity Office, but she says that the case remains open months later.
In response to questions about the current status of the EOO’s investigation into Lambda Chi Alpha and potential consequences, Greg Trevor, a university spokesperson, said via email, “As we stated earlier, bigotry and intolerance have no place on our campus, and we condemn them in the strongest terms. The Equal Opportunity Office investigates all allegations of this nature, but we do not comment on the status or details of individual student conduct cases.”
At this point, Mbunwe does not expect Lambda Chi Alpha to face any other consequences for their racist messages besides their self-suspension and loss of their social calendar.
As the semester is coming to a close, the future of Mbunwe’s Twitter may remain uncertain, but she plans continue with her work in community organizing on campus.
Watch Mbunwe’s interview with WSB-TV here.
Students gather in front of the Arch to protest UGA’s COVID-19 response. (Photo/Tyler Wilkins) 
Students protest while in the background members of Tri-Delt are having fun pre-date night. (Photo/Kathryn Skeean) 
Student speaks to the crowd while holding her sign. (Photo/Tyler Wilkins) 
Students hold up protest signs to passing cars (Photo/Tyler Wilkins) 
Mbunwe stands with other protestors. (Photo/Tyler Wilkins) 
Mbunwe talks with fellow protestors. (Photo/Tyler Wilkins) 
Mbunwe holds up sign calling out Pres. Morehead in front of Sanford Stadium. (Photo/Kathryn Skeean)