The Dowdometer is supposed to be about gauging Student Association President Pat Dowd’s performance, with the ulterior motive of developing in him a Pavlovian response to our approval. This week, though, the Dowdometer is all about being angry, because Pat seems to want to have the University ban Juicy Campus from campus internet. From Friday’s Hoya (emphasis mine):

Some projects are already in the works to stop the spread of the Juicy infestation. GUSA President Patrick Dowd (SFS ’09) is speaking with the administration about having University Information Services block JuicyCampus.com from the Georgetown network. This would make it impossible to access the Web site via any of the wireless networks on campus, or via any Internet connections in campus housing. Dowd feels strongly about the issue, saying about JuicyCampus.com, “It’s despicable, and there’s no place for that type of that hurtful speech in our community. … It doesn’t help anyone, and it has no place at Georgetown. Maybe there are some people that disagree, but few will be sorry to see it go, and if they are, maybe they need to ask themselves some tough questions about why.”

Deliciously, The Hoya, the same people who want to go independent so they can use their 1st Amendment rights, say Georgetown and GUSA should be “applauded for any steps they take.” The Hoya doesn’t represent students, though, and Pat supposedly does, so I had to confirm his application to the Greg Mottla School for Little Dictators.

Apparently, Pat doesn’t think the site’s going to get banned, but he did have a chat with Todd Olson, Dr. Porterfield, and UIS about possibilities. “We had to take the time to do the diligence,” he said, which is a pretty positive way of describing an attempt to cut students off from information.

Sadly, Pat didn’t really seem to register that what he asked about doing was wrong. All is forgiven, though, since the Dowdometer has a soft spot for the guy. Still, if Juicy Campus is banned, check Vox Populi immediately for a quick-and-dirty guide to proxy servers.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 2:17 am and is filed under Campus News, GUSA, Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.