Famous multitude

The University’s high profile speakers draw additional student participation

Lately, a multitude of famous and important speakers has been flowing through our campus, giving lectures and talks from the forefront of their fields and getting to speak first-hand with students and faculty of the University. We congratulate the respective colleges and programs for bringing such talented and well-known persons to Athens.

Without a doubt, our highest-profile speakers of the year are the five former secretaries of state who have held one of the highest posts in the country and, indeed, the world. Today they are in town for the Report of the Secretaries of State: Bipartisan Advice to the Next Administration. Additionally, two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, Isabel Wilkerson and Cynthia Tucker, gave a lecture on campus Wednesday, sponsored by Grady College.

Other past and future guests of recent years include CIA spy and subject of political intrigue Valerie Plame-Wilson, television host and jurist Judge Hatchett, former President Jimmy Carter and award-winning film actor Ron Jeremy, to name a few.

We thank the speakers who come here to talk and praise their hosts for continuing to bring them in. We hope such luminaries will continue to visit, raising student interest and boosting the University’s profile.

- Matt Brandenburgh for the editorial board

Juicy or juvenile?

Petty and malicious online gossiping is both immature and a waste of time.

“Alisha is a hoe” – at least, according to an anonymous post made at JuicyCampus.com.

The Web site, which was founded in August 2007, aims to provide college students with a forum for free and anonymous speech.

As journalists, we at The Red & Black are unfailing proponents of the First Amendment, which includes freedom of speech. Parody is protected, as well, but reading JuicyCampus.com begs the question: Why bother?

We are adults preparing to enter the “real world,” whether it’s the workforce, the military or another post-graduation option. This site is an Internet version of the “Burn Book,” illustrated by Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams in the 2004 film “Mean Girls.”

Have we not matured at all since high school?

Do students have nothing better to do with their time than post malicious gossip about their peers?

Luckily, the site still is in its trial stage, and the University is not one of the schools offering its services. Unfortunately, the possibility always exists that JuicyCampus.com will expand and include our own campus.

In this digital age, the Internet provides a tremendous liability to one’s professional, and now personal, life. Once information is out there, it never goes away – even if you think it’s been deleted.

The site claims there is no way to find out who made a posting, but a judge easily could issue a subpoena if a civil lawsuit is filed, which would reveal Internet Protocol addresses.

So to the posters at other campuses, we say, grow up. And if this sophomoric site ever invades the University, we hope students can find better things to do than anonymously bash each other.

- Shannon Otto for the editorial board