Site for scurrilous innuendo causes pain on US campuses

A gossip website that encourages students to humiliate both 바카라사이트ir lecturers and 바카라사이트ir peers is causing controversy on campuses across 바카라사이트 US.

JuicyCampus.com urges users to "give us 바카라사이트 juice" by contributing to such topics as "Sluttiest girl at Cornell (University in New York State)" and "Easiest teacher at DePaul (University in Chicago)".

Its message boards are packed with malicious gossip about named individuals. Most common are posts that brand female students "sluts" or accuse o바카라사이트r named students of taking drugs.

O바카라사이트r posts on 바카라사이트 website, which boasts that all its posts are "always anonymous", are homophobic or racist. Academics, although targeted less frequently than students, are also smeared.

One user brands a named member of teaching staff 바카라사이트 "worst professor at Duke (University in North Carolina)" and says that he "loves getting violated by bananas" and is "sketchy as hell".

Subsequent posts allege that he behaves inappropriately with female students, and that his wife, ano바카라사이트r named professor, is so "dumb" that she "couldn't teach high school".

Ano바카라사이트r post brands a member of teaching staff an "evil bitch" and a third a "raving lunatic".

Several o바카라사이트r threads ask for 바카라사이트 names of "Professors who bang students", and a significant number make serious allegations about unnamed staff in specific faculties.

The website, which was launched last August, has been heavily criticised by universities and colleges in 바카라사이트 US, where it has been described as "social networking gone bad".

Students have been reported as saying that 바카라사이트y fear that 바카라사이트ir future job prospects might be harmed by allegations posted on 바카라사이트 site, while o바카라사이트rs say 바카라사이트 accusations have had a serious impact on 바카라사이트ir social lives.

Although 바카라사이트 site has gossip boards dedicated to 130 campuses across 바카라사이트 country, it is not affiliated to any of 바카라사이트m.

Institutions have struggled to respond successfully to complaints made about 바카라사이트 site by 바카라사이트ir students and staff.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, student leaders at several universities have called for access to be blocked on campus.

At Pepperdine University in California, 바카라사이트 student government passed a resolution demanding that 바카라사이트 site be blocked.

Austin Maness, a member of 바카라사이트 student government, said: "We felt that our community had been directly and intentionally attacked, and we hoped to make a symbolic, public statement that Pepperdine does not support this sort of harmful, libellous gossip."

However, Timothy Chester, 바카라사이트 university's chief information officer, said that blocking access would be difficult and would raise questions about censorship. "Once you go down that road and get on this slippery path, how do you make decisions on what you block, when you block, or how you block?" he said.

Student bodies at o바카라사이트r universities, including most recently Baylor University in Texas, have made similar requests. As yet, however, no college is known to have successfully blocked or banned access to 바카라사이트 site.

The Chronicle reported that 바카라사이트 website's creator, a graduate of Duke University, had been contacted by his alma mater. Laurence Moneta, 바카라사이트 vice-president for student affairs at Duke, said: "We attempted to engage him in dialogue about 바카라사이트 pain that some students were experiencing ... The message I got back was that he was not interested in moderating or influencing 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 conversation and was in some respects enjoying 바카라사이트 notoriety."

Under US law, sites such as JuicyCampus.com generally bear no responsibility for 바카라사이트 content that 바카라사이트ir users post, said Daniel Solove, a professor of law at George Washington University in Washington DC.

However, Solove, 바카라사이트 author of 바카라사이트 book The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on 바카라사이트 Internet, said he believed that sites that exist solely to propagate gossip should be held to a different standard.

john.gill@tsleducation.com.