Student Racism Flaunted on Web Site Forums

Author: Edward Pickering

Malicious postings made by anonymous third-party users on the online forums of Middkid.com and The Daily Jolt Web site have prompted administrators of both Web sites to change their forum policies.
Ted Adler '99.5, founder and president of CollegeXTRA, the company that runs middkid.com, decided to remove the forum from his Web site. Administrators of Middlebury's Daily Jolt Web site have upgraded to a more restrictive type of forum that requires users to log in before posting messages.
Adler explained his decision in a Nov. 7 press release, saying, "We had a very clear forum policy. It read: 'This forum was created as a medium for open discussion. Within it comes the responsibility of proper use; libelous, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate material has no place here. We invite you to express your opinions in a manner reflective of your intelligence.' Quite frankly, we were wasting too much of our time and resources keeping the forum clear. Our only option was to remove it."
The administrators of Middlebury's Daily Jolt could not be reached for comment. In a statement issued online, however, they expressed hope that the changed forum would create the opportunity "for more worthwhile discussions with less slander."
Hateful and slanderous postings have plagued both Web sites in the past. This fall in particular saw a spate of particularly offensive postings. The anonymous messages were racist in nature and were directed at individual students.
The disturbing content of these postings has focused attention on the status of the two Web sites and their relationship with the College. Despite their close association with Middlebury College, Middkid.com and the Daily Jolt are officially unaffiliated with the school. They are independently run and do not fall under the jurisdiction of school officials and its regulations.
That is not to say the College turns a blind eye to the Web sites. Said College lawyer Karen McAndrews, "We have on one occasion commented to the Daily Jolt about the presence of offensive material on their site."
McAndrews explained that legal action against the sites would be untenable and impractical. "As a practical matter I don't think the College has an affirmative responsibility to protect students from this type of slander."
"From both a practical and legal standpoint," she continued, "the College isn't in a position to enforce what may really be an issue of individual rights." McAndrews did note that some colleges confronted with the same issue have pursued legal recourse. "I believe other colleges have taken steps to block access to certain sites, but this seems to be an impractical approach, [as well as being] one that raises the question of free speech."
Despite McAndrews' sentiments, many feel Middlebury has an obligation to protect students from defamation where the College's name plays such a prominent, if involuntary, role. Without question, the anonymous attacks have been extremely hurtful and upsetting for the students who were targeted. Said one victim, "It really hurt me. I feel differently about the school now. [The anonymous attack] changes the way I look at people and things because I don't know who wrote it."
Kiki Taylor '03, president of the African American Alliance, said she feels the College ought to take action for the sake of its reputation, as well as for the sake of the targets of the comments. "When you have racist commentary like this, it does involve the school. It reflects poorly on the institution. The College needs to address it."
The decisive response of the Web site administrators has made any discussion of legal action purely hypothetical. Indeed, the problem of anonymous abuse has been confronted countless times by Web site administrators on college campuses everywhere. Erik Pukinskis, on-campus administrator for the University of Connecticut's Daily Jolt Web site, categorically declared, "With any anonymous forum abuse is inevitable."
Other campus administrators echoed Pukinskis statement. Isaiah Tannenbaum, a member of Amherst College's Daily Jolt team, refered to the "the double-edged sword of Internet anonymity."
"One of the main reasons for the forums' popularity is their anonymity," Tannenbaum said. "They foster an environment where people who hold controversial opinions can speak their minds without fear of reprisal. Such an environment is often lacking on modern college campuses. The Daily Jolt is glad to be able to host this service."
Middlebury's Daily Jolt Web site upgraded to a forum that requires registration. Anonymous postings can still be made, but with one important distinction — users are registered under a valid e-mail address and site administrators can track and contact anyone who violates forum policy.
The ultimate success of such a move, however, depends on the presence of a responsible Web site administrator on campus. According to Adler there has not been an on-campus Middlebury Daily Jolt administrator for two or three years.
Adler attributed the increase in offensive postings in part to an attitude of disregard fostered by the lax management of Middlebury's Daily Jolt Web site. "To be honest, my feeling is that people got accustomed to using forums in an inappropriate manner," he noted.
Furthermore, he warned that more restrictive forums have their downsides. "I've found that forums that force users to log in don't get a lot of traffic," he said.
Discouraged by the increasing vileness of the online abuse found on Middkid.com, which he claims has been significantly worse this year than ever before, and unwilling to institute a restricted forum, Adler chose to abolish the existing one. "It was a decision that had been coming for quite some time," he explained.
His company, CollegeXTRA, administers 20 other college-related Web sites in the Northeast, none of which were as persistently and vehemently plagued by anonymous abuse as the Middlebury site. Adler pointed out that Middkid.com is the company's flagship college site and receives the most traffic of the 20.
He emphasized that the decision to abolish the online forum was made independently, and at no point did the College contact him. Adler has "always made an active effort to keep the door open for contact with the College."
Adler said he hopes he will be able to reinstate Middkid.com's forum at some point in the future. For the time being he lamented the loss of an institution that served an important role in the College community. "Generally speaking, nine out of 10 postings were good postings," he maintained.
At the conclusion of his press release, Adler said that he regrets the disproportionate influence of a handful of slanderers. "We are sorry that a couple of bad apples ruined the whole bushel, as there was substantive content in the forum about campus issues, the threat of war in Iraq and the past election. However, Middkid.com's name and reputation as a community resource on campus is worth more than several individuals' blatant and repeated use of the forum to post libelous and offensive messages."
The Middlebury Handbook explicitly forbids abusive online conduct in the section entitled "Information Services:" "The same standards of civilized discourse and etiquette that govern our face-to-face interactions should apply in cyberspace. All users of our computing and networking facilities bear the responsibility to avoid libel, obscenity, undocumented allegations, attacks on personal integrity and harassment."