Thought middle school was tough? You’ve probably never been to Juicy Campus. Within days of arriving at Georgetown last week, the gossip site was flooded with threads about who’s sleeping with whom, who the hottest person on campus is, who’s promiscuous, and who’s an asshole, to pick out a few topics. As if that wasn’t enough, all of the allegations, which frequently called out students by name, are made under the cloak of anonymity, without any repercussions for the posters. The answer to the Juicy Campus phenomenon is not for Georgetown’s administration to censor the website, cutting off access for students using Georgetown’s internet connection. Rather, it falls to us—the students of Georgetown—to practice a modicum of restraint on the site, always keeping the golden rule in mind—don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to be said about you.
It would be futile to suggest that students should ignore the site. Undoubtedly, some will, and more power to these people, but the vast majority of us will check it out to satisfy our curiosity, our craving for gossip, and our desire to feel part of a larger community. Like it or not, Juicy Campus is here to stay.
To recommend, as an op-ed in The Hoya did on Tuesday, that Georgetown’s administration should ban the website is as naïve as it is dangerous. Technologically, this would be a fool’s errand. Methods to bypass censors online abound, as do outside internet connections that would render the ban useless. Moreover, as a matter of principle, censorship is unjustifiable. Free speech, no matter how pernicious, is still free speech.
It’s up to Georgetown students to take control of our baser instincts. Before posting the dirt about your former roommate or the guy down the hall or the couple you saw making out at Chadwick’s last Thursday, pause. Consider whether you’d want to receive the same treatment were you in your target’s shoes, and proceed accordingly.
Lastly, remember that Juicy Campus is not a representation of the entire Georgetown community, merely its dark underbelly. Still, the posts—many of them homophobic, racist, or offensive in some other way—don’t paint a pretty picture of students at Georgetown. It’s up to each of us to do what we can to stop Georgetown from fully descending into the muck that is Juicy Campus.
