Stop Immature Libel on JuicyCampus.com

Whether you’ve looked at the Web site or have heard about it through the grapevine, JuicyCampus.com is the new controversy stirring the Hilltop. I want to note in the beginning of this viewpoint that I realize after reading this article you are going to immediately check this Web site out. I ask you, on behalf of the victims of this Web site, please refrain from satisfying your prepubescent urge to be shallow and act like a mature college student and respect those who have been violated by the spiteful people with perverted minds or the girl who acts like your friend but secretly wants to throw you in front of a bus.

The premise of the Web site is to share gossip and questions and ask the public opinion regarding issues at Georgetown. In essence, you can post that your ex-girlfriend is a conniving, backstabbing daughter of Satan and your statements are visible for the entire Internet community’s enjoyment. As for your ex-girlfriend, well, let’s just say reading your thoughts won’t be her favorite memory. Actual statements of the site read as follows: “Sluts?”, “Best Rack on Campus??”, “Smallest Peen,” and “girls who have sex with everyone.”

I believe there are two views of the Web site swirling around campus, the first opinion being that this is the greatest thing to come to the collegiate community since Facebook. I mean, let’s be real: If some guy stood you up at the bar and then you later find out he was hooking up with your best friend, you are going to pissed. And what are you going to do with your anger? The obvious answer is that you are going to write on the Internet that he has a case of crabs and has a two-inch penis.

Regardless of its validity, these statements, whether made in jovial manner or while you hold your voodoo doll of your ex-boyfriend, are on the Internet and they will harm the victim. If I am applying for a competitive internship at JP Morgan and my interviewer types in my name into the Juicy search bar and it shows a site that says I had sex with 15 girls in Chadwick’s bathroom and am a cocaine addict, it seems likely that it will adversely affect my chances for obtaining the internship.

Juicy Campus, unlike Facebook, has no privacy settings. So, unlike that picture of you at The Tombs with your tongue down some random girl’s mouth, Juicy Campus’ content can be disseminated with zero restrictions, a serious problem for all those who are victims of it. Some might ask, what about free speech? Isn’t this the same as what happens every day, only it’s written for a greater audience? Although it is true that slamming ex-girlfriends’ reputations does occur, it doesn’t follow that those comments will appear in a JuicyCampus.com search of her name in five, 10 or 20 years. Although I do admit I am shallow and do find some of the comments interesting and amusing, it is for this reason that we must recognize that by writing these comments we are seriously affecting people’s lives in an adverse, almost sadistic fashion.

Ultimately, the Georgetown administration needs to intervene. I personally do not know what the university has the ability to do without violating first amendment rights, but some action needs to be taken, and fast. Some topics have upwards of 1,500 views and this week, Georgetown was the fifth most popular search term on the site. In essence, JuicyCampus.com is a cruel wildfire that needs to be extinguished in a timely manner. Ideally, the solution lies in the university blocking the site from the network known as “HOYAS,” if it is legally and technically able to do so. From this, a vast majority of the Web site’s traffic will be stopped and arguably its popularity and growth will fade, thereby keeping the identity of those “dudes who get it up too much” a secret, for better or worse.

Greg Mottla is a junior in the College.

Correction: This viewpoint incorrectly implied that posts on JuicyCampus.com can be found in a Google search.