Tennessee State University and Hampton University, two historically black institutions, are blocking students’ access to JuicyCampus.com, the leading site for vicious, anonymous gossip about (the sex lives of) college students. The administrators who made the decision cite the Virginia Tech tragedy. One said, “We need to be more thoughtful, and we really need to be more careful in targeting and attacking each other.”

I understand the impulse, but limiting what speech reaches a college campus is not a good idea. The arguments are hard to sustain. The administrator goes on to say, “¬†JuicyCampus gossip blog does not fit with the legacy, spirit, and reputation of Tennessee State University.” Surely true — so will he remove from the libraries works that do not meet that standard? Or filter students’ email to make sure their communications are fitting?

Of course, a blog is not exactly a book and not exactly an email, but can we define the ways in which it’s different that would justify a different standard?

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 10:29 am and is filed under Censorship and free speech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.