Now that I’m halfway done with my college career (a pretty cushy place to be, considering I have two more years before the real world), I anticipate all the bright eyed and bushy tailed freshmen about to invade the dorms and use fake-id’s at all my favorite bars. Putting myself in their shoes, I wish that someone had been there to give me advice for my college career (all I got was my Mom telling me not to hook up with any fraternity boys until Spring semester). So I dove in head first and learned a few lessons of my own.

I learned the value of my dry erase board to my social life, I learned that “attendance optional” classes are not always a good thing. I learned that I should always have an assortment of costumes readily available, and that sharing drinks with my friends meant sharing drinks with whoever they made out with (and whoever they made out with…) All of these were very important lessons, and I’d like to share some of the pearls of wisdom I gained my freshman year. Read More »

Gossip and rumors are main staples on college campuses across the nation, and the website Juicy Campus (which was recently shut down), shows just how far people are willing to go to spread gossip. At some point in everyone’s life, gossip comes up – good or bad. Gossip, in moderation, can be just another thing, but in a culture that obsesses about pop culture and dishing dirt (think of websites like Perez Hilton), the fixation of dishing dirt about someone else isn’t going away any time soon.

Although many of us love to gather on Monday nights to watch Gossip Girl and watch the scandals of the Upper East Side unfold, no one likes it when their own personal life is exposed in the cafeteria over wilted lettuce or when private information rolls off the lips of classmates before the professor starts the class. While gossip may seem like something that comes and goes, it can leave its dirty scars behind all too often.

Maybe because it’s an all-women’s college and women often use each other to bring others down, or maybe it is the size of the university, but the Hollins rumor mill never seems to cease on campus. It constantly peeks its nasty little head around the corner for students that least expect it. Whether it hurts friendships, ruins reputations, or isolates students from campus events — gossip can cause tremendous damage. Read More »

In the old days, if someone ruined your reputation by spreading false information about you, you could sue them for defamation of character. Since the internet came about, however, finding those people who say horrible things about you is not always as easy.

Blogs, websites, Facebook profiles, etc. give everyone with an internet connection the ability to create their own stories and share them with the world. And they can do so without ever telling anyone their name. It happens on Juicy Campus every day, and on other sites all across the internet.

So what do you do when someone starts spreading rumors about you online?

Liskula Cohen, a model in New York, decided to fight back after one blogger anonymously called her a skank and an old hag. (Editor’s Note: Seriously? This woman is smoking!) Since she doesn’t know who it was, Cohen has decided to sue Google, the owner of the blogging site the comment was posted on.

Sure, it sucks when people call you a skank (welcome to my life as a CC blogger), but isn’t a lawsuit a bit much? It’s not like being a skank will prevent her from futhering her career, or that anyone is taking this blogger seriously. Plus, think about what could happen if Cohen wins; this could change the face of the internet and freedom of speech forever.

What do you think? Is Cohen justified, or is she just a bitter skank?

Wait, was Joaquin Phoenix working?

Angels and Demons: from awesome book to awesome movie?

Joe the Plumber now Joe the Plumber/Country Star and no longer a supporter of John McCain.

Courtney Cox is returning to comedy.

Juciy Campus founder thinks students are too serious.

Yes. There is a National Museum of Pasta. Delicious.

College grad starts an online college guidebook.

Rachel Bilson is adorable.

The world doesn’t revolve around you, people.

SAE fraternity pays for hazing.

Ever date a guy who is too tall?

Let’s face it: We LOVE to gossip. We gossip about friends and we gossip about foes. Such idle talk allows us to convey information quickly, although not always accurately. This being said, it is no surprise that the website Juicy Campus has been increasing in popularity since it was founded on August 1, 2007.

When my friends first introduced me to Juicy Campus, I wrote it off as another place for people to share their college exploits online. But I quickly realized that this site was different; I actually knew the people that were being discussed! Friends, classmates, hookups—no one was free from the wrath of this critical group. Let’s just put it this way, if the “Burn Book” from Mean Girls was published online for all to see and comment on, I would imagine it would look similar to Juicy Campus.

The site was created by Mark Ivester, a Duke University Alum, with “the simple mission of enabling online anonymous free speech on college campuses.” (Editor’s Note: That’s a nice way to refer to sh*t talking!) There are currently 64 colleges listed on the site, including many prestigious institutions such as Harvard, UPenn, and Brown. The topics on the site range from the innocent (“Best Frat on Campus”) to the scandalous (“Sex with Professors”). Each post gets a rating ranging from 0% Juicy to 100% Juicy, so the juicier the gossip, the better the rating. Read More »