PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The SMU first-year student named in the original version of this story published on March 27, 2008, has requested her name be removed from the online archived version of this story. A reproduction of the complete print version of the original story is still available by contacting SMU Student Media Company at (214) 768-4549. — March 25, 2015.

When first-year student (name withheld by request) visited JuicyCampus.com, a gossip Web site about sororities, fraternities and student scandals related to Southern Methodist University, she found that her own name was part of the subject of a hurtful anonymous post:

“those fat asses think they are the s***!!! just because the sigma chis are drunk enough to hookk up with themm. they don´t call them love handles for no reasonnnn!!!”

The post addressed (name withheld) and her group of friends, and there were 15 replies to it, some defending (the student) and some agreeing with the unkind comments.

“Kill yourselves,” said part of one reply.

JuicyCampus.com, a company based in Los Angeles, has a gossip Web site for more than 50 college campuses, with subjects ranging from “Best Parties” to “Biggest Sluts.” Universities range from small, large, public and private. SMU, TCU, Notre Dame and the Naval Academy all have JuicyCampus sites. But JuicyCampus’ popularity varies by school. Through word-of-mouth and numerous Facebook “flyers” advertising the site, its popularity appears to be increasing at SMU.

Owen Lynch, an assistant professor for the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs program and an expert on organizational communication, said that the “trendy” Web site may simply be an outlet for expression for students. He also said that there is a lack of public space where students get together to talk about “real” issues – for example, the recent news about the Bush Library being built at SMU.

“Students should be discussing the value of that on their campus,” he said, instead of fueling the rumor mill with “The Biggest Cocaine Users on Campus” (a JuicyCampus post viewed more than 4,000 times since Feb. 9).

Lynch said that the reason behind the lack of open dialogue on the campus is attributed to several factors, including the school’s homogenous and small population as well as the Greek system.

According to the JuicyCampus Web site, the “most discussed,” “most viewed” and “juiciest” categories involve a sorority or fraternity and their stereotypes or reputations. Lynch said that perhaps SMU’s lack of diversity causes students to thrive on JuicyCampus. Because of these reasons, JuicyCampus viewers at SMU are likely to know who is being victimized by anonymous comments.

“When you have … a culture that pushes toward conformity, it is going to force people to fill that vacuum,” Lynch said.

And he may be correct. Some students at other schools barely know of the site’s existence. Alisha Saddler, a sophomore communications major at Michigan State University, said that she had never heard about the site until a friend from a different school told her about it.

“[When I saw it] I thought of a high school version of MySpace,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

SMU has over 2,000 members in Greek organizations and a student body population of about 6,000 undergraduates. MSU has about 3,000 members and its population contains more than 35,000 students.

“The [gossip] is not worth caring about because you’ll never see [the students], said Saddler. She said that MSU students rarely discuss “blaring gossip.”

This Web site is not the first to stimulate trivial conversations among college students. One of Facebook’s basic features allows students to post hundreds of fun yet often incriminating photos of their friends. DirtyDtown.com satirizes photos of SMU students and Dallas residents taken at clubs, bars and lounges. But Facebook pictures can be reported for their inappropriateness, and DirtyDtown.com, though sometimes posting cruel material, does not intend to provoke rumors and ridicule individuals.

“[JuicyCampus] is just a horrible Web site in general,” (name withheld) said. “It’s kind of a blow to your self-esteem.”

JuicyCampus.com founder Matt Ivester, a Duke University alumnus, wrote on the Web site’s blog that the site was intended to be “a place for fun, lighthearted gossip, rather than a place to tear down people or groups.”

“We want JuicyCampus to be juicy, not hateful,” the comment said.

But despite Ivester’s goals of being a just “juicy” site, most of the posts are hateful. New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs officials stated on Mar. 18 that they were investigating JuicyCampus for violating the New Jersey Fraud Act. According to the terms and conditions policy, the site says it does not allow abusive, obscene or defamatory content. Because much of JuicyCampus’ material is this type of speech, New Jersey officials say that JuicyCampus may be misrepresenting itself, and therefore could be guilty of fraud.

Lynch also added that having the rumors written on a public site instead of being whispered throughout campus validates it, or gives it “false legitimacy.” But regardless of the truth and Ivester’s intentions, students are still being hurt by the Web site, and are therefore concerned about their free speech rights as citizens against defamatory remarks.

Associate Professor Dan Schill has been discussing students’ rights in his Free Speech and the First Amendment class. Unfortunately, he said, lawsuits against JuicyCampus would be futile, as the company is fully within its rights to act as a cyber “rumor mill.”

According to the Communications Decency Act, Section 230 removes the liability of content from Web sites and Internet service providers to the sites’ users. A recent JuicyCampus blog comment by the site’s lawyers also reminds users of this act.

“If a student wanted to go after a [different] student for a defamation lawsuit, [he or she] would have to either identify the person or petition the Web site to remove specific comments,” Schill said.

Since most of the posts are written anonymously, and JuicyCampus claims to not record the IP addresses of their users, students would have no way of proving that a particular student defamed them.

According to Lynch, the more hype the Web site is given, the more legitimate it will become. Or, he said, it could just be a trend, and its 15 minutes will eventually fade.

As far as (name withheld) is concerned, JuicyCampus’ time is up. At first, she periodically checked back to see the replies to the post; now she feels no need to read up on the latest “juicy” gossip.

“I didn’t want to keep checking it and obsessing over it,” she said. “I know three-fourths of the things [on the site] aren’t true, so there’s no point.”