A Fox News story about a George Washington University student’s suicide -- and its “tragic coincidence of timing” with President Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday -- has been removed from the website by request of the university. 
 
 
 
 “We were contacted by the university and decided it would be best to take down the story, although nothing was factually inaccurate,” said a Fox spokesperson in a statement to POLITICO. 
 
 
 
 A GWU spokeswoman confirmed the university reached out to Fox News to "express our concern that the story drew conclusions that were not accurate,” Candace Smith told POLITICO. She added that the decision to remove the story “was a wise one.” 
 
 
 
 A male student was reported dead at the university at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. 
 
 
 
 “GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking,” reads the story, which though unavailable on Fox News’s website, has been reproduced in a GW Hatchet report about the story and a Huffington Post item. 
 
 
 
 A Facebook group with almost 1,300 members and the name “HOLD CHERNENKOFF AND FOX NEWS ACCOUNTABLE” appeared shortly after the Fox News item ran, encouraging members to call the network and voice their displeasure with what the group called a “RIDICULOUS article.” 
 
 
 
 Just before 4 p.m., according to the Hatchet report, the story was removed. The Facebook group is now requesting an apology from the network. Smith said the Facebook group had no affiliation with the university and was entirely organized by students. 
 
 A Fox news employee, who was also a GW alum, told the GW Hatchet that “several GW alums here who felt that it was the wise decision to remove it.” 
 
 This post has been updated. Keach Hagey contributed to this report. ||||| Fox News has scrubbed its website of an article reporting on a suicide that occurred at the same time of President Obama's deficit speech at George Washington University. The article appeared on Fox's "American Election HQ" section with the headline "GWU Suicide Tragically Coincides with Obama Speech." While a GW student did in fact commit suicide on Wednesday, there's no evidence that the tragedy had anything to do with the president's visit. Nevertheless, portions of the article seemed to suggest that the two events were related. Case in point: 
 
 GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking. A source tells Fox that the incident may have occurred earlier, noting that police went knocking on the student’s door at 1:30pm. As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House. 
 
 As soon as it was published, the article elicited a flurry of negative feedback. "Just think about this," writes Jon Bershad at Mediaite. "If the sources are right and this kid (emphasis on the 'kid') was a junior, that means he was probably 20 or 21 years old. He might not have even been able to drink legally and now he’s gone forever. And FoxNews.com is connecting it to a speech on the deficit? What on earth were they thinking?" 
 
 Other protests came from Reddit, Gawker, The Daily Kos and the Huffington Post, which nabbed a screenshot of the article. As of around 4:30 p.m. today, the article, previously located here, was removed with no correction or comment from Fox News. Update: a Fox News spokesperson has contacted Politico with the following explanation: “We were contacted by the university and decided it would be best to take down the story, although nothing was factually inaccurate.” 
 
 Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at jhudson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. 
 
 John Hudson ||||| Yesterday, a George Washington University student committed suicide. While college students taking their own lives is, unfortunately, fairly common, this tragedy has gotten national coverage thanks to FoxNews.com who strangely decided to put the news story in the “American Election HQ” section of their site. Why? Because they appear to have decided to connect the suicide to the fact that President Obama was giving a speech at GW at the same time the body was discovered. It’s all in a bafflingly insensitive article entitled “GWU Suicide Tragically Coincides with Obama Speech‬.” (UPDATE: The link is now dead. See below.) 
 
 Just hours after the student died, the article appeared under Politics on FoxNews.com. The post is so infuriating that I think we should go through it piece by piece. 
 
 “George Washington University students in Washington, D.C. learned of a tragic coincidence of timing on their campus Wednesday. As President Obama delivered a speech on deficit reduction in the Jack Morton Auditorium, university officials were learning one of their students had committed suicide in his dorm room across campus. Fox News has learned that the male student may have been a junior at the school and was described as solitary. He rarely left his dorm room, according to a source.” 
 
 This second paragraph here is important. Fox News doesn’t even know how old the kid was. They certainly don’t know if his death had anything at all to do with Obama. That’s purely something they made up. 
 
 “‘I am deeply saddened to report that the university has been notified of the death of one of our students,’ GW President Steven Knapp said in a message to his students, faculty and staff. ‘The student was found in his room this afternoon at the City Hall residence hall,’ he said.” 
 
 Yeah, shockingly the school’s president doesn’t mention Obama once in the message. Gosh, doesn’t he know there’s a presidential election coming up? 
 
 “GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking. A source tells Fox that the incident may have occurred earlier, noting that police went knocking on the student’s door at 1:30pm. As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House.” 
 
 I don’t even know what to say about this paragraph. Yeah, lets nonchalantly mention that he may have died before Obama even reached the campus. And then lets drop the totally damning fact that the White House hasn’t commented on the subject. How could they? After the President may or may not have caused a suicide by a student who may or may not have killed himself hours earlier, the White House should get right on sending out a statement. 
 
 “‘The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the student’s death in coordination with the GW Police Department,” Knapp wrote. ‘At this time, we have no indication that the death was the result of a criminal act. We will release more information when it becomes available.’ DC police officials tell Fox that the death has, in fact, been ruled a suicide. Knapp took note of the solemn moment, adding, ‘On behalf of the entire university community, I would like to express our sorrow and extend my condolences to the student’s family and friends.'” 
 
 How much do you want to bet that the Fox reporter asked the DC police officials if the student was “into politics?” And how much do you want to bet that the official then hung up on her. 
 
 Unsurprisingly, the Internet is already outraged. Three stories on Reddit have already popped up with one (entitled “What. The. Fuck. Fox News publishes hours after a student’s suicide. Can we get this woman fired?”) becoming one of the top stories on the entire site. 
 
 Just think about this. If the sources are right and this kid (emphasis on the “kid”) was a junior, that means he was probably 20 or 21 years old. He might not have even been able to drink legally and now he’s gone forever. And FoxNews.com is connecting it to a speech on the deficit? What on earth were they thinking? Who signed off on this post? Who edited it? Why would they ever post it? So that some snarky commenter can say, “Gee, if NObama was at my school, I’d kill myself too. LOLZ”? 
 
 This post needs to be taken down immediately and everyone involved should be banished to the nail polish beat for a good, long time. 
 
 UPDATE AT 4:40pm: As you can see by clicking the link at the top of this post, the article is now gone. This isn’t surprising. As the day wore on, more and more media outlets picked up the story and it really didn’t look good. (h/t Tackable) 
 
 (photo credit Charles Dharapak/AP) 
 
 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| The contortions the media arm of the Republican Party had to do on this one must have put them in traction: 
 
 George Washington University students in Washington, D.C. learned of a tragic coincidence of timing on their campus Wednesday. As President Obama delivered a speech on deficit reduction in the Jack Morton Auditorium, university officials were learning one of their students had committed suicide in his dorm room across campus. [...] GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking. A source tells Fox that the incident may have occurred earlier, noting that police went knocking on the student's door at 1:30pm. As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House. 
 
 A tragic coincidence of timing that probably didn't actually happen at the same time. 
 
 But with the other option being to talk about the Republican plan to abolish Medicare, apparently politicizing this young man's death looked a whole lot better to Fox News. 
 
 Pathetic. 
 
 (h/t Balloon Juice) ||||| Students, family and friends gather at the steps of George Washington Hall to honor Grace Mann's life on April 24 in Fredericksburg. (Reza A. Marvashti/For The Washington Post) 
 
 A feminist group at the University of Mary Washington is accusing school officials of failing to act on threats against its members — one of whom was killed last month — on the popular and controversial messaging app Yik Yak, an attorney for the group said. 
 
 Feminists United plans to announce at a news conference Thursday that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education alleging that members were threatened with sexual assault and death and were cyber-stalked after speaking out in campus debates about Greek life and against a lewd chant by the rugby team this year, said attorney Lisa Banks. 
 
 Authorities say that Grace Rebecca Mann, a 20-year-old from McLean, Va., who served on United’s board, was slain April 17 by a roommate. Steven Vander Briel was charged with first-degree murder and abduction. Police have not commented on an alleged motive. 
 
 [At vigil, slain Mary Washington student recalled as a ‘force of nature’] 
 
 Banks and United members said they have no evidence that Mann’s activism or the threats on Yik Yak were related to her slaying. But they said a flood of more than 700 messages — some of which targeted members by name — left them feeling afraid. They said school officials did nothing to stop the threats despite repeated requests throughout the year. 
 
 Grace Rebecca Mann (Courtesy of Grace Rebecca Mann's family) 
 
 “I felt deeply unsafe at many points,” said Paige McKinsey, the outgoing president of the university’s Feminists United group. “I made sure to walk with people. I made sure my apartment door was locked and told people where I was going.” 
 
 School officials said they acted on all threats of violence or sexual assault on the social-media site and that student safety is their top priority. 
 
 “If we receive any complaints, we investigate them and offer extra security as needed,” said school spokeswoman Anna Billingsley. 
 
 Yik Yak’s popularity has exploded on campuses nationwide since it was introduced in the fall of 2013. The app allows smartphone users within a 1.5-mile radius to post and read messages anonymously in real time, making it well-suited to campus life. 
 
 The vast majority of traffic includes gripes about finals, talk of drinking and jokes, but the app also has been a freewheeling forum for racism, misogyny and threats that have made it a lightning rod at many schools. 
 
 During the past year, at least 13 students have been arrested on charges of threatening mass shootings, bombings and other mass violence through Yik Yak. A Virginia Tech senior was arrested last month after allegedly posting a message warning of another “4.16 moment” — a reference to the date of the 2007 campus massacre in which a student killed 32 people. 
 
 After a black student at the University of Virginia was arrested by a group of white Alcoholic Beverage Control officers in March, the app was bombarded with racist comments and disparaging remarks about the victim, 20-year-old Martese Johnson. And Emory University’s student government passed a resolution denouncing the use of Yik Yak to spread hate speech and harassment. 
 
 The University of Mary Washington student group "Feminists United" filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, accusing the school of failing to act on online threats against its members, one of whom was killed last month. (WUSA9) 
 
 [Racial tensions flare at U-Va. after arrest of black student] 
 
 Yik Yak has said it has taken a number of steps to limit hateful speech on the app. 
 
 “It’s always disappointing to see rare instances occur that simply don’t represent what Yik Yak is all about, and guarding against misuse is something we take very seriously,” the company said in a statement. “We’ve taken significant measures so far by adding filters, pop-up warnings, reporting, and moderation within the app, and we will constantly work to enhance these measures.” 
 
 At Mary Washington, McKinsey said, problems began in November as students were talking about whether to allow fraternities and sororities on the 5,000-student campus in Fredericksburg. 
 
 At a forum, McKinsey said she made a comment linking Greek life to sexual assault, and the reaction on Yik Yak was immediate and unrelenting. Hostile comments started flowing as soon as she stopped speaking, she said. 
 
 McKinsey said a second wave of vitriol was unleashed after she wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper in January in which she discussed a recording that was made of rugby team members at a party. The recording captures them chanting a rhyme about having sex with a dead prostitute. The school eventually suspended the rugby team because of it. 
 
 “There were waves,” McKinsey said of the abuse. 
 
 Among the comments in the weeks and months that followed, McKinsey said, there was a riff on a line from “The Hunger Games” — “We burn. You burn with us.” Her movements around campus were posted, and she said someone urged students to make problems at a Feminists United meeting, so they asked police to attend. 
 
 Banks, the attorney, said a majority of the 700 comments aimed at Feminists United were name-calling or sexist, but a handful were direct threats. In one, members were threatened with rape “in the mouth,” and at another point, someone posted about killing a “bitch.” 
 
 Because Yik Yak is anonymous, the group has no idea who posted the comments. McKinsey said Feminists United members resorted to walking in groups and informing each other where they were going out of fear for their safety. “It created an increasing level of fear and anxiety,” Banks said. “They had no way to know if people who were posting messages were sitting next to them in class or walking next to them on campus.” 
 
 On multiple occasions, Banks and McKinsey said that Feminists United met with the school president and other officials about the problems. Feminists United said that Mary Washington should have blocked Yik Yak on the school’s WiFi and taken action to identify the offenders. 
 
 In March, school officials e-mailed students about Yik Yak, saying the university had “no recourse for cyberbullying” and urged them to report incidents to the social-media site. They told students to report any direct threats to the administration or campus police. 
 
 Billingsley said that the school consulted with Virginia’s attorney general but that its options were constrained when it came to limiting access to Yik Yak. They worried that blocking it might impinge on other students’ right to free speech. 
 
 “There are First Amendment concerns when you are a state institution,” Billingsley said. 
 
 On the afternoon of April 17, Mann made a brief stop at the off-campus home she shared with Vander Briel, 30, and two other students. 
 
 Mann and Vander Briel appeared to be on different trajectories. Mann was a member of the student Senate, active in the school’s gay and lesbian club, and an activist for gay rights. Vander Briel, a former rugby player, was on his third stint at Mary Washington and was involved in few campus activities. 
 
 When Mann’s other roommates arrived that afternoon, they found her bound and unconscious, police said. Detectives say they believe that plastic shopping bags were used to asphyxiate her, according to a search warrant. Police said the two did not have a personal relationship. 
 
 Vander Briel told the roommates that he assaulted her and then fled the home. He was arrested later that day and charged, according to police and a search warrant. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 19. 
 
 Feminists United is not the first group to take issue with Yik Yak. Elizabeth Long, an 18-year-old from Atlanta, said she started a petition asking for Yik Yak to improve community standards after students at her school posted messages while she was recovering from a suicide attempt, telling her that she should take her life. 
 
 “It really, really hurt,” Long said. 
 
 Her petition has garnered more than 78,000 signatures. 
 
 Danielle Citron, a University of Maryland law professor and the author of “Hate Crimes in Cyberspace”, said Yik Yak’s anonymity combined with geolocation can be a powerful tool in the wrong hands. 
 
 “We’ve had threats on message boards since the ’80s,” Citron said. “Yik Yak compounds fear, because you know the individual is located nearby.”
– Fox News has wiped from its website a report on a George Washington University student's suicide whose timing may have coincided with President Obama’s speech on the school's campus—and that seemed to suggest the two events were linked. "GWU officials tell Fox that police were notified about the incident around 2pm, which happens to be at the same time that President Obama was speaking,” it read. "As of this writing, Fox has not been able to obtain reaction from the White House." The article prompted a wave of criticism at Reddit, the Daily Kos, and Gawker, notes the Atlantic Wire; a GWU Facebook group railing against the piece quickly gained 600 members, the Huffington Post reports. Fox News told Politico that “we were contacted by the university and decided it would be best to take down the story, although nothing was factually inaccurate.” For a line-by-line analysis of the piece, click through to Mediaite.