Yesterday, the American University Eagle reported that Georgetown officials had nefarious plans for Juicy Campus. We thought that was funny considering that GUSA President Pat Dowd, once enamored with the idea, had dismissed it weeks ago.

In an email, Pat Dowd denied that our beloved Juicy Campus is threatened:

It is unfortunate that certain media outlets tend to speculate on these sort of things without first checking the facts, but let me assure you that There was never, nor is there now, a decision made between GUSA and the University to ban the site.

That doesn’t rule out an administration move separate from GUSA, but we’ll take it.

Sara Waldron, the AU official who’s the basis of the Eagle’s story, wrote in an email that she has not talked to anyone in Georgetown but rather heard Georgetown was doing something from an AU colleague.

The most pernicious website of our time, Georgetown Juicy Campus, recently expanded to include our neighbors at George Washington and American. Now the AU Eagle is reporting that the AU administration’s official response is to wait to see what we’re doing.

[Associate Dean of Students Sara] 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.”

Huh? Last time we checked up on Juicy Campus, GUSA President Pat Dowd told us he didn’t think the administration was going to ban it, but maybe things have changed? Perhaps the Hoya and President Pat will get their way after all…

Gmail hold-outs have another reason to switch: now, Gmail isn’t just an email service–it’s a sober best friend, too. Google is instituting a program called Mail Goggles which will check your sobriety before you send an email by forcing you to solve simple math problems in one minute.

“When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email…By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you’re most likely to need it…Hopefully Mail Goggles will prevent many of you out there from sending messages you wish you hadn’t.”

So now go come back inebriated from the Tombs at 3 AM and take comfort in the fact that you will not accidentally send an email to that guy you just met about how the vile comments written about him on Juicy Campus are an understatement.

The Hoya’s 40 years in blog wilderness may finally be coming to an end. First there was their unannounced partnership with Saxaspeak, and now they have Outside the Gates, a blog about Georgetown neighborhood goings-on. I’m all for it, especially if it means more people to drink wine with me at Citizens Association of Georgetown meetings.

Won’t you be Vox Populi’s friend? I promise it’ll be like friending someone you’ve known for a while who just got a Facebook, and not at all like friending someone you met once at a party and never saw again, except while walking to class.

Over the summer, Congress passed the 900-page Higher Education Act. A bill that huge and with such a vague name has to have an impact on the lives of Georgetown students, and indeed it does. While specific regulations are waiting to be decided by the next presidential administration, Georgetown’s federal liaison Scott Fleming said several parts of the bill will affect Georgetown students.

Course registration

The bill requires professors to announce the books required for their classes before the semester starts. This probably will mean syllabi will be published earlier, perhaps even in time for course registration. You win because you can know better whether a class is what you want, and you have more time to find the best deals on textbooks.

Illegal downloading

Copyright owners like the RIAA and the MPAA have strong lobbies in Congress, so it’s only natural that they could slip some provisions into the bill. Universities are going to be pressured to monitor and report filesharing traffic (although not necessarily names of downloaders).

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The earnest congressional aides in the College Democrats have relaunched their blog/webmagazine The Georgetown Progressive, and it’s not half bad. I don’t really trust the Progressive after their blog went dead for 3 months, and the redesign’s confusing, but any blog that’s concerned about grenades in Rock Creek Park is worth reading.

Looks like the problem of ICC computers not loading Gmail is mostly resolved. I got an email this morning from UIS saying all the computers have been “reimaged” and are now able to log in, except for one on the second floor that still won’t.

The problem seems to have been as commenter Matthew Smith said: the computers’ clocks were going crazy, and that messed with Gmail somehow. So now you can check your Gmail and get the correct time.

The secret UIS training video

Remember when you could check your Gmail account between classes on the first floor of ICC? Those days are over in the Intercultural Center, because several computers don’t log in to Gmail at all. After typing in your username and password, they just return to the login screen. A service request to UIS confirmed that the public terminals are having problems, although they said there is no issue with lab computers.

The creepy part is that when I tried to check Google Reader I was already logged in, so make sure to close the window after your next failed attempt at accessing your inbox.

A few days ago we discovered that Jack DeGioia’s resorted to using Craigslist to search for a suitable assistant. Now it looks like one of his colleagues is also using the site, albeit for less wholesome (but much more hilarious) purposes:

Professor fantasy? - m4w - 35 (Georgetown)

Ever find yourself attracted to your professor and secretly fantasizing that at some point you’ll be alone with him talking, laughing, subtly flirting, playing coy but giving all the signs of romantic interest — then he moves close, touches your arm, pulls your body into his, and kisses you with the ardor of a libidinous teenager and the skill of an experienced lover?

Ever find yourself daydreaming about being in his class, about his nicely sculpted physique, about his attentive and sincere manner of addressing students’ questions, about his passionate interest in the subject matter, about his confidence, his flair with words, his humility about his intellectual boundaries, his warmth and charm?

If this is you, maybe you’d like to turn your fantasy into reality? Maybe a private tutorial with an handsome professor is in order? If you’re very cute and interested in a discreet relationship, I’d love to hear from you.