“What if you would always be known as ‘The guy who had an STD?'” This is Tulane business freshman Ryan Didion’s fear of the campus gossip outlet JuicyCampus.com, a new Web site which has caused growing controversy at the New Orleans college. Tulane University’s Student Senate passed legislation Wednesday in hopes of curbing the use of JuicyCampus. The Web site allows students to anonymously post gossip about others. Although LSU is not yet included, JuicyCampus has caused recent turmoil at Tulane. The Tulane page has become so popular in recent weeks that some of its posts – with subjects such as “Freshman Porn star,” “Hottest Girls on Campus” and “Lamest Fraternity” – have received nearly 3,000 views. “You’d think you’d have to be at least good looking to be such a bitch, but I guess not,” an entry claims about one student’s character. Another entry claims one sorority knows “how to have fun in the recent Britney Spears kind of way.” Students who had been written about on JuicyCampus spoke in front of the Tulane Senate on Wednesday, presenting a petition signed by more than 800 students and faculty members wishing to ban the Web site from the campus server. The Tulane Senate decided to take the petition a step further. “Why just block [JuicyCampus] when people can go a block from campus and get it at home?” said sophomore senator Donald Leverson. “We decided to block the ultimate problem. Tulane should not be on JuicyCampus.” As a result, legislation was passed stating Tulane wanted its name removed from the Web site. The legislation included a letter from Tulane’s student government urging the JuicyCampus administrators to remove Tulane’s page. “The first time [students] hear about it they are intrigued,” said Blandon David, freshman proxy senator. “When I first logged on, I had heard from a friend and wanted to see what was going on. I was shocked to see that so many people had already started posting and shocked to see people I actually knew.” Didion found out about JuicyCampus when he was told his name was on the site. Although nothing negative was said about him, Didion said he was shocked. “It was a little creepy,” Didion said. “It would have been terrible to find out that people tried to say things about me that shouldn’t be said and that weren’t true.” Didion said many students think poorly of JuicyCampus, but still cannot help visiting the site. “They don’t like it, but they still go to it because it’s interesting,” Didion said. Until the page is deleted, the Tulane Senate is urging students not to log on to JuicyCampus. “Everyone is in panic because they think they are on it,” Leverson said. “People check it every day and cause more problems.” The posts made on JuicyCampus are not able to be deleted or edited after being made, and Juicy Campus does not keep track of who creates entries or what they say. JuicyCampus rarely removes entries, unless they are spam or present eminent legal concerns. The JuicyCampus terms and conditions claim the site is not obligated to investigate or delete any entries since users are forced to agree not to post anything defamatory on the site. Despite the urging of the Tulane senate, gossip has continued in recent days. LSU students have mixed feelings about the possibility of the inclusion of the University. English senior Kara Rambin said although she would not want to have anything to do with JuicyCampus, she would probably read the Web site. English and secondary education senior Megan Landry said she believes the site feeds off curiosity. “I would be secretly reading it but wouldn’t want anyone to say anything about me,” Landry said. “It would be a guilty pleasure.” But other students expressed fear about JuicyCampus coming to LSU. “An official gossip page widespread in LSU would be deadly,” said Patricia Manetsch, political science freshman. “People gossip so much as it is, if they have a free place to do it anonymously, that would be horrible.” Manetsch said the site is popular because it allows people to gossip without face-to-face confrontation. “It’s popular because you can just write it, and it doesn’t feel like real words,” Manetsch said. “You don’t feel as guilty.” Others believed the site would only be the concern of those who use it. “The Internet has become the new mouth-to-mouth gossip,” said Lauren Hebert, history junior. “If you want to go on the page you have to take it with a grain of salt.” JuicyCampus has grown to include 60 colleges since it was created this past fall. Although JuicyCampus is currently affiliated mostly with small private schools, the Web site says it is expanding to 25 more campuses. Information on which campuses will be added in the future is unknown, but LSU students say they have requested for the University to be included on JuicyCampus.
—-Contact Blake Stephens @ bstephens@lsureveille.com