Anyone who thought that college was supposed to be different than high school, or even middle school for that matter, was sorely mistaken. The recent popularity of the Web site Juicy Campus has proven that immaturity is endemic. The Web site, on which people can post anonymously about one another, has become an infested rat's nest of horrifyingly cruel and often completely untrue gossip. The people responsible for the more egregious posts can only be described as spineless, gutless cowards who deserve any and all bad karma that will surely come their way. If you are the one responsible for anonymously insulting people on Juicy Campus, you have surely reached the lowest of lows.
At the same time, it is not AU's business to police the student community's Internet usage on campus. We agree with Associate Dean of Students Sarah Waldron that this matter should not be pursued judicially, especially not by the school. If an individual student wants to take action against alleged libel, we wish them luck, but caution them to remember that it will undoubtedly cost thousands of dollars in legal fees and will, more likely than not, end up in Juicy Campus's favor.
Free speech is an important part of the U.S. While it may be tempting to take official action against a Web site as clearly offensive as Juicy Campus, censorship in any form is a slippery slope to begin down. The judicial system has made it very difficult to form a libel case for just this reason. No one has the right to determine what should and should not be said. Just remember that everyone does have the ability to determine what is and is not worthwhile speech.
Even though the gossip on Juicy Campus seems high school-esque, this is a college campus. At this point in life it is time to start taking responsibility for your own actions. Surely some of what is said on Juicy Campus is horrible, but you reserve the right to not visit and to not post. The Web site will only be taken as seriously as the students of AU let it. Already, only a week or so after its introduction to this campus, it seems to be losing popularity. This is a testament to AU students who have made the correct choice to ignore, rather than engage posts written about them. No matter how obnoxious and offensive the posts are, they will mean nothing if no one reads them. This is a chance for students to come together and prove we have the ability to establish acceptable standards of decency without the parental guidance of the AU administration. Juicy Campus violates this standard of decency.
