AU will not take any action against the Juicy Campus Web site until it sees what action Georgetown University takes, according to Associate Dean of Students Sara Waldron.
The AU community has been reacting to the Web site since it established an AU site Sept. 26.
Waldron said Georgetown will be "taking some action" and AU is waiting to see what action this is.
"We've contacted them to see what they're doing with the site," she said. "We're going to wait and see what Georgetown does."
Waldron said it would be difficult to pursue judicial action.
"This becomes a free speech issue, this is not something that we would pursue judicially," she said.
School of Communication associate professor John Watson, an expert on media law, said AU has the right to censor the site but doubts it will.
"You would be hard pressed to find a university that would shut down First Amendment access," he said.
Pursuing legal action against the operators of Juicy Campus is possible but not worth it because sites like it are often immune from taking legal responsibility for the postings that the site's users make, Watson said.
"Anyone who discovers the defamatory statement can give the Web site a reasonable amount of time to take it down," he said. "If they don't, they can sue them. It would take years before this is all done. Unless you're an attorney yourself, you're looking at [legal fees of] $100,000 or more."
Cathy Hubbs, AU's chief information security officer, said AU has censored Web sites in the past.
"We do this on occasion, however, only after verifying that it is a threat to our network computing resources or community or receiving a request from General Counsel," she said in an e-mail.
Gertold Hasanbelliu, a junior in the School of International Service, said he feels the site is immature.
"I think a lot of stuff on there is very immature but not surprising given the anonymous nature of the site," he said.
Dan Siegel, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, said that while he thinks the site can be amusing at times, it's also offensive.
"There's stuff on there that can be funny, but there's a lot of people acting like morons," he said.
Waldron said she does not think highly of the anonymous posters on the site.
"People who are posting anonymously online generally in my view are cowards, small and not willing to take responsibility for their opinions in person," she said.
Matthew Spano, a student in the Washington Semester program, said he thinks people should not mask their identities when they talk about other people.
"If you're going to say something, say it to someone's face," he said. "I think it's a trashy Web site."
Posts are frequently targeted at members of the greek community, according to Waldron.
"It's cruel and mean and sophomoric and very junior high," she said. "For the individuals who may have been touched personally by it, it's very upsetting."
The postings on Juicy Campus are libelous, but only when they target an individual, Watson said.
"You cannot libel an entire group of people," he said.
Juicy Campus is based in Los Angeles and launched in October 2007, according to the Web site.
Watson said college students need to make smart decisions about their media consumption.
"People in college must absolutely positively learn to be literate consumers of the mass media," he said. "You have to learn what's crap and what's worthwhile."
Waldron said she is optimistic AU students will do just that.
"I think overall the good in this community will prevail to say 'not acceptable here,'" she said.
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