Spring Break
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Don't give JuicyCampus the publicity
Letters to the Editor | 11/11/08
Posted online at 3:59 AM EST on 11/11/08
To the Editor:
In lieu of the recent feature on the ever-growing campus gossip Web site ("Gossipers go wild: Brandeis edition," Nov. 4 issue), I'd like to say that while well-intentioned, the article may elicit unnecessary additional attention to the Web site. How can students be advised not to visit this site when there is that much detail revealed about it? Because of our inquisitive nature, it is nearly inevitable that someone who reads that article will visit the site. As it has spread to Brandeis quite recently, it is still premature to forecast the size or degree of the site's impact on the campus. Perhaps on a campus as socially conscious-driven as Brandeis strives to be, students and administration together, the opinion has begun to form that it is a vile Web site. Indeed it may harbor those tendencies, and so we must be aware of its potential effects. The chief information officer of Pepperdine University described it as "a virtual bathroom wall for abusive, degrading, and hateful speech." The best remedy we have at the moment is to reduce the attention given to this site and simultaneously educate each other about the potential harm that can occur to someone who may not be able to simply disregard false or defamatory information posted in an anonymous, online forum. Though, hopefully enough, people will consider that, at times, as Rebecca Blady wrote well, it is necessary to "curb free speech for the sake of our classmates' emotional well-being."
-Matthew Kessler '10
In lieu of the recent feature on the ever-growing campus gossip Web site ("Gossipers go wild: Brandeis edition," Nov. 4 issue), I'd like to say that while well-intentioned, the article may elicit unnecessary additional attention to the Web site. How can students be advised not to visit this site when there is that much detail revealed about it? Because of our inquisitive nature, it is nearly inevitable that someone who reads that article will visit the site. As it has spread to Brandeis quite recently, it is still premature to forecast the size or degree of the site's impact on the campus. Perhaps on a campus as socially conscious-driven as Brandeis strives to be, students and administration together, the opinion has begun to form that it is a vile Web site. Indeed it may harbor those tendencies, and so we must be aware of its potential effects. The chief information officer of Pepperdine University described it as "a virtual bathroom wall for abusive, degrading, and hateful speech." The best remedy we have at the moment is to reduce the attention given to this site and simultaneously educate each other about the potential harm that can occur to someone who may not be able to simply disregard false or defamatory information posted in an anonymous, online forum. Though, hopefully enough, people will consider that, at times, as Rebecca Blady wrote well, it is necessary to "curb free speech for the sake of our classmates' emotional well-being."
-Matthew Kessler '10
Be the first to comment on this story