Spring Break
Gossip Website Generates Discussion
Daniel Jacobs
Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: News
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The website, juicycampus.com, encourages users to post the "juice" about things happening on their college campus. Many of the posts on the site, which includes forums about 500 different colleges, are racist, sexist, or negative in nature, and often focus on specific students.
"After seeing Juicy Campus for the first time, which was probably about a month ago, I was absolutely horrified by it, and I felt so awful for the people that I knew," said Matt Tamason, a sophomore.
In reaction to the material posted about Rhodes students on the site, the Rhodes Student Government held an emergency meeting on Nov. 9. While RSG did not pass an official resolution at the meeting, a group of senators agreed to send out a letter to the leaders of student organizations condemning the website and asking for their support.
"That was a very effective thing," said Colin Cox, a Senior Senator who helped organize the letter. "Every leader I contacted said, 'Hey, I think this is a great thing.'"
Tamason, along with Junior class senator Juliana Lynch, also spearheaded another initiative to encourage civility and community values. They placed a message board in the Middle Ground with this statement written at the top: "As a community we value honesty and integrity while respecting our peers." According to Lynch's estimate, approximately 200 people have already signed the board.
The controversy over Juicy Campus began slowly, about a month ago, as students found out about the site through word of mouth and advertisements on facebook.
"I think it started out as, 'Hey, go look at this horrible thing,' and then a couple people were like, 'cool,' and it became this thing, almost like a virus, that infected all over campus," said Jill Carr, the RSG President.
Carol Casey, the Dean of Students, received some complaints about the site and in response she organized a private forum on Nov. 6 to discuss the issue. About 30 students, as well as Bob Johnson, the Vice-President for Student and Information Services, attended the forum and discussed ways to address the situation. But besides organizing the forum, the administration has largely let RSG decide how to address the website.
"I think we really look to the students because it really is a student issue," said Casey. "I feel like my job is to help provide venues for students to take over some control of it."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jarrett Tate
posted 11/20/08 @ 10:27 AM CST
Great article. I remember when I first heard about rumors of JuicyCampus and those who were having their names smeared on the site. Unfortunately, it is either going to take time for the site to go out of style or Rhodes is going to have to ban it in order to make a difference. (Continued…)
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