Students stand up to Juicy Campus Web site

By Genna Tan

When senior Christina Harris heard that she had been called one of the "biggest hos at SCU" on juicycampus.com, she was upset, she said.

"I was offended because the posts started to get pretty harsh," said Harris. "Somebody started saying that I should kill myself and that nobody likes me."

"I had heard about Juicy Campus, but I'd never actually visited the site until one of my friends called me up and said that I was on the site," Harris said.

Juicy Campus, an anonymous gossip Web site, recently added Santa Clara to its list of 500 universities where students can discuss -- and in some cases attack -- other students and faculty members. Many are concerned about the vicious nature of some of the posts, but there's no denying the popularity of the site. During last week alone almost 100 comments were posted.

Harris is just one of the many people who have been written about on Juicy Campus.

"We have had quite a few complaints from students," said Vice Provost for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger. "My biggest concern is the fact that it's an anonymous opportunity for students, or whoever happens to go on this site, to post things that I think are mean and hurtful."

Associated Students has created a task force to address the issue of negative online blogging and Juicy Campus in particular, and plans to create a pledge for students to sign against negative anonymous blogging. They've also ordered armbands that say "Rise Above It" on one side and "Keep it Classy, SCU" on the other.

"We really want students to realize that people are getting hurt from this Web site and other sites like it," said AS President Rachel Manfre. "It's just really sad because we're better than that as a student body, and we should be able to rise above it."

Besides the larger issue of negative anonymous blogging, there are undertones of homophobia and racism that have been brought up on the site, according to Manfre.

"There are people being targeted, and it is unnecessary because it hurts people," said Manfre. "It has come down to specific issues like homophobia, calling guys creepers and referring to girls as sluts."

Senior Carlos Torres received a text from a friend one day alerting him that his name had been mentioned on the Web site.

"I thought my friend was just joking around, but when I went to look at it myself, I couldn't believe someone would actually do that," said Torres. "I was angry and frustrated because on what grounds could anyone say this about me?"

The comments on the site can also affect more than just a person's self esteem.

"It goes beyond just affecting their psychological being, because obviously anyone has access to the Web site, so it can affect future employment, your standing at a university and how others see you," said Torres. "I don't see anything positive at all about the site."

Blocking Juicy Campus on university computers is an option, but that is not the route Santa Clara wants to take, said Rosenberger.

"There are a number of schools that have called on their administration to just shut down the site, but we haven't gone in that direction because in part you can access Juicy Campus from any place, on or off campus," said Rosenberger. "Our goal would be to discourage students from participating and posting, and certainly to challenge their peers and stand up against it."

Manfre said she doesn't think blocking Juicy Campus should be necessary.

"I don't think we should have to block the site because students should think higher of themselves and the people that they go to school with," said Manfre. "They shouldn't feel the need to go on this site for their personal pleasure or to write hateful things about other people."

Torres said he tried to contact Juicy Campus administrators about removing the post that included him.

"I actually sent an e-mail to customer service of Juicy Campus and I went to their FAQs section, but unfortunately everything there leads me to believe that they are not going to do it," said Torres.

"We're still trying to figure out how, or if, any of the content can be removed," said Rosenberger.

In an interview at Georgetown University, founder of Juicy Campus Matt Ivester said Juicy Campus is about letting students talk about the things that interest them most in the manner that they deem appropriate.

Ivester said he is against censorship and doesn't have a responsibility to censor the comments on the site.

But there are three types of posts that administrators will take down: spam, rampant hate speech and contact information. The post telling Harris to kill herself is no longer on the site.

Ivester said Juicy Campus has gone out of its way to make sure that search engines do not pick up names from the site.

"Associated Students' approach of standing up for being more respectful, being more classy, being the type of student that Santa Clara attracts and educates and graduates is really the way to combat the problem," said Rosenberger.

Sophomore AS senator Christopher Molier has taken on the role of Committee Chair for the task force.

He said the task force plans to address the larger issue that Juicy Campus represents.

"The problem is not just Juicy Campus, but the idea of negative blogging and its impact on the students or student in question that the posts are talking about," said Molier. "If the things posted aren't true, rumors get started, and that can turn catastrophic."

AS has also been in contact with other universities to examine their approach to this issue.

"We have been doing our research and looking at what other universities have done," said Molier.

"We're trying to see what works and what doesn't, but also we're trying to specialize it for our institution," he said.

Manfre said the student government at Pepperdine University was helpful, giving an example of what to perhaps expect at Santa Clara.

"They gave me a lot of insight as far as reaching out to the students, and they saw that at Pepperdine, it was just a fad and it kind of blew out after time," said Manfre. "It only picked up again at the beginning of the school year when the freshmen came in."

Harris advises students to stop visiting the site.

"People need to know that even if they don't like the site, every time they visit it, the creator of Juicy Campus gets paid because of the advertisements," said Harris. "Nobody goes there and comes out looking great. If you go on there, you're either feeling bad about yourself or thinking negative thoughts about someone else."

Manfre urged students to be proactive about the situation.

"When students ask about the site, say that you don't support it," said Manfre. "That's a big thing because word of mouth has always been a big proponent."

She added, "More than anything, we want to create an idea of respect on our campus."

Rosenberger said she hopes students will refrain from the site.

"That would reflect the best of our students, if students were willing to take a stand and commit to not adding content on the site or perpetuating anything," said Rosenberger.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics will host a student-led discussion on anonymous blogging and free speech on Monday, Nov. 10 from 6-7 p.m. in Kennedy Commons.

Contact Genna Tan at (408) 554-4546 or gbtan@scu.edu.