Word is getting out about the appropriately-dubbed JuicyCampus.com.
The website, which allows students to anonymously blog about fellow peers in a blunt and vulgar fashion, has students from more than 60 schools nationwide logging on and posting comments.
“I heard about it on the news,” said sophomore Michael Zeolla. “A bunch of lawyers were talking about it. That made me go look at it. It’s not really any different than MySpace.”
“People will naturally talk,” said Sociology Professor Jack Crepeau.
He pointed out that sites like RateMyProfessor.com allow students to post opinions about professors anonymously, and that other social networking sites could have negative repercussions, as well.
“Sites like Facebook allow users to post [pictures that display] students in awkward situations,” he explained.
Sophomores Carly Goodpaster and Aylin Saner, who’d never heard of the site, disagreed.
“[JuicyCampus.com] is just cowardly,” Goodpaster said. “At least on Facebook you can make a statement and take responsibility for it.”
“Facebook is more for giving your opinion,” said Saner.
She agreed with Goodpaster that users of the site are being “cowardly,” and “playing it safe.”
Though UT isn’t on the site, schools as close as University of Florida and University of Miami are.
And, because the site is free and anonymous, it’s only a matter of time before UT is listed on it.
“It would change the feel of campus, because we’d all be looking at each other differently,” thinks one junior.
Grad student Vaibhav Rustagi agreed.
“The campus is so small [and] everybody is already insecure. They’re going to be more insecure [if UT emerges on the site],” he said.
The site’s anonymity also makes it hard to challenge others and even helps users mask their IP address.
“It doesn’t sound like something I ever want to end up on,” Miller said.