JuicyCampus.com Faces Growing Opposition

by Tyree Barnette

It's like bits of pornography blogged on a screen. Mix that in with obscene messages you'd see scribbled on public bathroom walls. Now match that with the human instinct to form cliques and further a sense of belongings. Now you've created the destructive force known as JuicyCampus.com: an abysmal college gossip site that's spreading like wildfire.

The home page claims to offer "Always Anonymous, Always Juicy” gossip. And that's why I came across countless unashamed claims, questions, and inquiries from unregistered and anonymous bloggers.

The dirt at my own alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill, ranged from the sexuality of some star basketball players to "Hottest Granville Girls” and one simply called "Sluts.” Need I say more?

This collegiate forum was the brainchild of Duke graduate Matt Ivester. He launched the site late last year. It hasn't even reached its first birthday.

But what struck me were the schools on the growing list of those registered on JuicyCampus.com. I'm talking the Ivy League bastions of education like Cornell, Brown, Harvard, and Yale. But, I didn't come across a single historically black college or university. Not one.

But the absence is probably a good thing. The website isn't only spreading hot, damaging gossip, but it's also ripping further into the fabric of an already warped college social life. And perhaps it's breaking the law according to one state attorney general.

A Raleigh newspaper, The News and Observer, says the attorney general of New Jersey unleashed a consumer fraud investigation into the web site. Anne Milgram slapped a subpoena on the company that now owns JuicyCampus. She said the website may be violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act by suggesting that it doesn't allow offensive material about citizens, but not enforcing that same policy against JuicyCampus. The Garden State has to put its money where its mouth is.

Other states are lining up. The News and Observer went on to say the Connecticut attorney general launched a fraud investigation on the company and its owner also. A California lawmaker urged his state attorney general to do the same.

Many college students have also taken issue with the website. It seems they're now crying out for help to save them from themselves. A CNN article says Pepperdine University asked for a ban of JuicyCampus back in February. Other schools have taken a similar approach. Popular social networking site "The Facebook” now has a few groups totaling a few hundred members who are against JuicyCampus.

Now, many bloggers are taking the attack straight to the site. Recent posts include one about possible lawsuits and how anonymous bloggers would respond if they were subpoenaed. Whether it could actually happen is beside the point: many of these posts show that many have some sort of conscience about what they post online.

But perhaps by writing this article, I'm helping to spread the word about the site and attract new viewers. Maybe I'm softening the blows to the beast a bit. But once you navigate from this page, you've got your own mind to make up. So go ahead. Satisfy your curiosity. Form your own opinion of the site.

And for all the bloggers keep in mind that with the posted gossip, you're slandering someone's daughter, son, sister or brother. We've all seen politicians toppled over one questionable photo on the internet, or one inappropriate email to a co-worker. So before you start that new thread about so and so, think about the lasting implications of what you'll say. Your harmless gossip could be a major setback or extreme embarrassment for someone else… or worse.

I'll leave you with this haunting and prophetic thread: one that I can unfortunately see coming to fruition.

"Unfortunately, the site will probably only get shut down when something truly horrible happens as a direct result (suicide, etc.) and it makes the national news. I never post, but I had to throw my two cents in. Shut this site down.”

Additional Resources

www.juicycampus.com

Haynes, Brad. (2008, March 28). Gossip Website Denies Wrongdoing. The News and Observer.

Wolfe, Gregory. (2008, February 5). Too Juicy for Campus. The Cornell Daily Sun.

Young, Jeffrey R. (2008, February 18). Website Promising Juicy Gossip Faces Backlash. The Chronicle of Higher Education.