大学生に互いの噂話を書き込ませる公開匿名掲示板「JuicyCampus」（フルネーム使用、悪意の書き込みも頻繁）が、初めて公立大附属図書館で利用禁止になった。サイトへのアクセスを禁じたテネシー州立大（TSU）学生課VPのMichael Freemanに、JuicyCampusのCEO兼社長Matt Ivesterは公開質問状を出して対抗している。
これは、ひと波乱ありそうだね。IvesterはTSUが「オンラインの自由な対話を信じるみんなの顔につば吐きかけて、中国政府並みのネット検閲の仲間入りをした」と騒いでいるし。
JuicyCampusによるとサイトは月間ユニークビジター100万人近くらしいが、QuantcastもCompeteも実数はその10分の1ぐらいだろう、と見積もっている。サイトは最近新たに500ヶ所の大学にも対応範囲を広げた。
あのサイトの利用を制限する団体がTSUだけで終わったら、むしろ驚きだ。Ivesterだって怒った学生や親に提訴されずに済むかどうかは怪しい。彼は以前、ニュージャージーとコネチカットの検事総長がJuicyCampusを捜査中だと僕らに話していたけども、あの話は今どうなってるんだろう？
以下はIvesterの公開質問状（英文）；
University administrators are probably acting in what they believe to be the best interests of their students. They’re just misguided, and missing the big picture. The most significant threats to free speech (in the U.S. at least) tend to come not from tyrants who openly question the value of the First Amendment, but from well-meaning busybodies who want to protect peoples’ feelings—a mission that is generally incompatible with free speech.
The idea of banning JuicyCampus.com has been considered, and flatly rejected, at the nation’s premier universities (including Yale, Duke, Princeton, Harvard, and many others). These universities decided that limiting free speech would be fundamentally incompatible with their educational missions, and that censorship was a slippery slope that they did not want to be on. Instead, administrators at many top universities seized the opportunity to educate their students. All over the country, discussions have taken place with regard to what is and is not appropriate to discuss in a public forum, and how students should react when they see something they disagree with online.
This approach stands in stark contrast with TSU’s decision, which was to censor the speech of its own students. In a truly Orwellian manner, the University chose to limit students’ abilities to read and write to an un-moderated message board online, because their speech was reflecting “negatively” on TSU. Freeman’s position would seem to be that his students cannot be trusted with their First Amendment rights, perhaps believing that they are too immature or irresponsible. Perhaps though, they are just under-educated on this issue. But, unlike his colleagues at top universities, Mr. Freeman has abdicated his responsibility for educating those students, and in doing so has disgraced both his University and his State.
Because TSU’s decision seems to violate its students’ First Amendment rights, there is some question as to how long their ban will remain in effect. Students and free speech advocacy groups are already discussing legal action.
JuicyCampus believes that the answer to bad speech is good speech, not censorship. To that end, JuicyCampus encourages students who disagree with certain comments to reply to those comments with additional information and/or their own opinions. Everyone has an equal voice on JuicyCampus.
[原文へ]
（翻訳：satomi）
