Graphic by Gabe Tiano ’26.

Google Chat offers an option to create custom emojis that were visible and accessible by anyone with a Brophy email. The ability to make these was unrestricted by the school. Students used the unrestricted feature in the creation of inappropriate emojis with explicit language in addition to using images of teachers and students without their permission.

The only person who can delete these emojis is the author of the emoji, and there is no review process required to create a new image. Technology staff revoked the ability to create custom emojis on April 18 after receiving questions from The Roundup.

Students published emojis with inflammatory language or images of other students and teachers seemingly without their knowledge. 

A student contacted by The Roundup whose photo was used as an emoji said that he did not know or give permission to the author of his emoji before it was posted publicly.

Roundup reporters were able to add an emoji through Google Chat with zero restrictions or processing time before it was published to the database where other reporters with student email addresses could access it.

Brophy knew about the ability to upload custom emojis, but anything previously reviewed had been useful for student clubs or activities or specific to Brophy, so there was no reason to take action to limit it, according to Mr. Mica Mulloy ’99, assistant principal for instruction and innovation.

He said that recently, “The creation of new emojis had increased, and instead of just those types of emojis, students had started creating things that were obviously inappropriate and inconsistent with our school standards and acceptable technology use policies.”

Mr. Mulloy said that all of the emojis created are tied to student emails and that students responsible for creating inappropriate emojis should expect contact from the Dean’s Office.