Taking the term “work hard, play hard,” to new levels, College of DuPage students are showing off the good, bad and illegal on a new Snapchat account called COD Snaps, stylized as “cod_snaps.”

After being founded in 2011, Snapchat has become the most popular photo messaging app, allowing users to send or post photos and videos that can be viewed for a short period of time. When posted, these personal moments are aptly titled a user’s “story.”

Buzz surrounding COD’s own story started a few weeks ago when COD’s Snapchat users started sending the “cod_snaps” account photos and videos. Content ranged from students walking through the halls on campus, to nude pictures and videos of what appears to be the use of marijuana.

One video shows a student using her COD library card to portion a substance in what appears to be marijuana.

A photo posted on the account features a student sharing a screenshot of who they were voting for during student elections.

Another photo was drawn on to show that a student was wondering why foreign students refuse to speak English.

Some COD Snaps stories total to more than 2,000 seconds long, roughly half of an hour. The posted pictures and videos usually last about five to 10 seconds.

The tricky part about COD Snaps lies in Snapchat’s fleeting nature. All videos and images posted cannot be saved easily and disappear after 24 hours. There is no way to prove that any of the individuals on the account are COD students, or are even of legal age.

COD Snaps has become a sort of urban legend among students.

Neha Chitnis, a first-year psychology major, and Jaycinda Mayorga, a first-year radiology major, both say that while they have not looked at COD Snaps personally, they have heard about it around campus.

Chitnis says she found out about the account on Yik Yak, a social media app that allows users to post anonymously on a location based discussion board.

“I know [explicit activity] goes on, but seeing people actually do it is different,” Chitnis said.

Mayorga had similar sentiments.

“There is a time and place for everything,” Mayorga said.

The owner of the account, referred to as the moderator, has not yet been revealed.

There is a sort of elusiveness that comes with the moderator. The individual occasionally posts messages in front of a blacked-out screen with the words ‘MODERATOR’ typed out before the message. One message from the moderator stated the original page had received over 5,000 views. The Courier was unable to track down the owner of the account at the time of publication.

The term moderator was not chosen in vain. The content that makes it on COD Snaps is filtered by the moderator. Snapchat users can send their content to the moderator and the moderator adds it to the Snapchat story.

While individuals who have their photos and videos posted on COD Snaps may seemingly want to be featured, this is not always the case.

Katya Pospisil and Edward “EJ” Lewis are two first-year students who found pictures and videos of themselves on COD Snaps, each posted without their consent.

Lewis, whose face could be seen in the background of a post, did not feel violated.

“It felt kinda weird [finding out I was on it], but I was in the background, so I don’t think anyone would notice me,” Lewis said.

Pospisil was well aware of the fact that a video of her had made it on the account, and says she was shocked to see herself on the account.

“It was a video of me hula hooping and longboarding behind the BIC,” Pospisil said.

Though Pospisil’s video was innocent, the content surrounding her post was not.

The explicit activities don’t end with smoking marijuana and pictures of genitals. Photos on the account have featured what appears to be cocaine. Stacks of money allegedly received for selling drugs have also been posted. Thus, when Pospisil and Lewis’ images are featured on the account, they are instantly associated with these acts, whether they participated in it or not.

On March 22, the COD Snaps account disappeared from Snapchat. The moderator had been preparing users for a rumored “shutdown.” It is unclear why the account was taken off the app. The COD police department stated they had nothing to do with the shutdown of the account. The police did have previous knowledge of a potential fight that could occur between two of the account’s users. The app does have rules and a way for users to report accounts that violate these rules.

Hours after the account was deleted, rumors started rising that a new COD Snaps had been created. The new account, stylized as “cod.snaps”, seemed to have similar posts, although there was a lack of nudity. Another COD Snaps account had also been brought to life, “cod_snapss.” This account featured posts from someone claiming to be the original moderator and featured the same lewd content that was shown in the original account.

The alleged moderator of “cod.snaps” stated in a post on Monday that the account would move to a username titled “party-snaps” on March 25. The moderator hopes that because the account name is not linked with any institution, it will be safe from further disabling.

Users from other colleges have started similar Snapchat accounts. There is an illini_snaps, likely an account for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which features similar content to what can be found the COD branch.

Students claiming to attend other local colleges, and even high schools, have been featured on COD Snaps as well. The subject of underaged high school students could be the reason why the account was shut down.

On the new account, dozens of photos were posted asking the high school students to leave. One photo features an angry young man’s face. Across the photo, the words “F— HIGHSCHOOLERS,” spelled out in all caps.

While the various COD Snaps accounts feature a fair share of explicit acts, the idea of a place where students can see pictures and photos of events that occur on campus is something that became addictive for some students.

The initial account featured pictures of students complaining over too much homework and videos of what appears to be students looking for a parking spot. The shared experiences that most COD students could relate to were being profiled. This is something that Chitnis thinks is special.

“If there was proper moderation, it could be a really nice and fun thing that could unify the campus,” Chitnis said. “But they are ruining it with the drugs and nudity.”

Pospisil feels that regardless of the positives that can come out of something like COD Snaps, it is the account’s inherent lack of responsibility that will destroy it.

“When you get college kids together and say, ‘you can post anything,’ and not be held accountable, that is what happens.”