JuicyCampus.com and the response by schools

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My local newspaper just ran a story on JuicyCampus.com and asked me about it (since it could be considered cyberbullying), and so I figured I’d share a few of my thoughts here.  First, the fact that college students are flocking to the site to read and write highly-offensive gossip about others is a sad commentary on the state of current society and populations of bored young adults.  Secondly, the benefits of anonymity provide those who post with a measure of invincibility, which is a shame.  Computer-mediated communication seems to really bring out the worst in others as it relates to what they feel free and comfortable to say online.  Third, the court system has historically supported free expression rights, and courts have ruled that these types of posts are protected under the 1st Amendment even if they are ridiculously offensive.  Unless there is a meaningful threat to another, law enforcement will not get involved in order to find out the identity of the author and poster.

All of this said, I was pleased to see that students at Justin’s stomping ground (University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire) are choosing the higher ground of not participating at all.  One UWEC student writes:

“So awesome to see a campus that doesn’t trash people on Juicy Campus. You GO, BLUGOLDS!!! I LOVE EAU CLAIRE!!”

My hope is that students everywhere do the same thing, perceive the site as hopelessly juvenile, inane, and of zero merit, and completely refuse to participate at all.

5 Comments

  1. I agree with Sameer that this trend is concerning and problematic. JuicyCampus is just the latest in a series of web sites that foster hurt and shame and personal irresponsibility. Posters to JuicyCampus do not have to be responsible for what they say and as a result say anything and everything. I fully support the 1st amendment but this kind of speech is not what the framers had in mind to protect. The best thing we can do is ignore sites like this so that they fall into obscurity and become irrelevant.

  2. Whoops, sorry — broken HTML tag. Here you go:

    You won’t believe this, but NPR’s Talk of the Nation actually did a story on Juicy Campus a few months ago. You can listen to the segment, including an interview with the founder of Juicy Campus (or another similar site — CollegeACB, maybe?) here. The callers’ comments were especially interesting — opinions seemed to range from “it’s harmless, everyone knows not to take it seriously” to “I know someone who’s entire reputation was destroyed”. Very interesting stuff, indeed.

  3. I'm personally a much bigger fan of CollegeACB.com. There is a huge difference in content, although that might just be the schools they seem to target.

  4. My university studen has just been a victim of Juicy Campus and I cannot tell you how hurtful this has been to our family in the last 7 days. To have some idiot blog the things that were said is sickening. The psychological damage that it has had to the individual themselves and our family members is horrifying. It was posted there to shame, publicly humiliate, and to ruin her life all under the guise of Freedom of Speech? I bet if what was said about her was said about some of our law maker’s mother, sister or daughters they would think twice about Freedom of Speech. JuicyCampus has put my daughter in harm’s way by putting her name out on the internet and tagging it to a sex act. It had over 1,400 hits in 4 days. I want the IPU address of these cyber bullies to find out who is responsible for the disgusting defamation of character they felt the need to do to full fill their sick minds.

    The Consumer Act law is way out of date in respect to protecting our University students.

    Turning our heads away and ignoring it will not change a thing. When you get the text message that you are out on the web site in the most hideous way, I can assure you, you will not walk away without some damage done for the rest of your life.

  5. My university studen has just been a victim of Juicy Campus and I cannot tell you how hurtful this has been to our family in the last 7 days. To have some idiot blog the things that were said is sickening. The psychological damage that it has had to the individual themselves and our family members is horrifying. It was posted there to shame, publicly humiliate, and to ruin her life all under the guise of Freedom of Speech? I bet if what was said about her was said about some of our law maker’s mother, sister or daughters they would think twice about Freedom of Speech. JuicyCampus has put my daughter in harm’s way by putting her name out on the internet and tagging it to a sex act. It had over 1,400 hits in 4 days. I want the IPU address of these cyber bullies to find out who is responsible for the disgusting defamation of character they felt the need to do to full fill their sick minds.

    The Consumer Act law is way out of date in respect to protecting our University students.

    Turning our heads away and ignoring it will not change a thing. When you get the text message that you are out on the web site in the most hideous way, I can assure you, you will not walk away without some damage done for the rest of your life.

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