Updated: 'Smut List' in Area High Schools Raises Concerns of Cyberbullying

A demeaning list of nearly 100 high school girls sent out via Blackberry Messenger and Facebook is raising concerns of cyberbullying in eight area school districts—including Rye, Harrison and Port Chester—after it surfaced Tuesday afternoon.

The sexually-charged list, titled "The Westchester Smut List," includes in many cases the first and last names of 99 girls from the districts. Almost all of the girls listed are younger than 18.

A Facebook page listing the names was taken down early Thursday morning. The list also was sent via mass texts in Rye and Harrison high schools Tuesday afternoon, according to a Harrison High student who asked not to be named.

"It was out of nowhere," said the student. "Like, everyone got it."

The message was sent out around sixth period at HHS Tuesday. The list, and who was on it, became common knowledge at the school by the end of the day, according to the student.

At Rye High School, Interim Principal John Smith said the list is "an unfortunate incident in extremely bad taste. Our role is to guide young people to see how harmful and injurious this is,” he said.

Teachers and students at the high school has discussed the “smut list," a source told Patch.

After the list went viral, teachers discussed the list with students and the dangers of cyberbullying. One female teacher told girls in her class to ignore the list and that the person “who started it obviously has nothing better to do than harass people."

One Rye High School student whose name was on the list received 25 Facebook friend requests after the list was released.

"The list is cyber bullying," said a female RHS senior.

"The person who started it has nothing better to do with his life. It's ridiculous," said another senior.

The list also includes students from Greenwich, Scarsdale, New Rochelle and Yonkers. 

It is unknown who created the list or where it came from. The Facebook page, which was posted on Tuesday at 6:37 p.m., garnered hundreds of comments and more than 7,000 "likes" in 24 hours before it was taken down.

A Facebook page dedicated to having the site removed went from less than 10 "likes" Wednesday morning to more than 1,700 Thursday. Comments on that page include links to anti-bullying sites and requests that the "smut list" be removed. 

"This is disgusting, whoever did this should be banned," said one commenter on that page.

Harrison Police Chief Anthony Marraccini said his department was made aware of the list Wednesday and is currently looking into the situation. He said police are looking to see if any laws were broken by the list's creators. If so the department would consider forcing Facebook to hand over whoever made the post.

He said he has no reason at this time to believe the list originated in Harrison.

Satta Sarmah and Renea Henry contributed reporting to this story.