Balancing Voices and My Choices: Dear Community . . .

A new website has caused a stir.  The boorish and unoriginal creation adds to the mix of a Web full of well-intentioned commentary, information, and creativity within spaces where we may engage each other in anonymous fashion.  One of the University’s students created a platform for BU users to anonymously post pictures of women and to rate their looks against each other.  This troubles me – it fractures the trust that people need in a community.

Plenty of folks have insisted that, on behalf of this community, I make the creator of the site take it down.  As a quick clarification – no legal advice, but in my homework on this it’s difficult to find meaningful actions from a legal perspective. The website isn’t on the bu.edu platform, so the University doesn’t have the authority to take it down.  The site doesn’t appear to use an official logo, so we can’t tackle it from that angle.

Plenty of folks also hold a strong belief that I should stay out of this and not engage in a harsh, 1984-ish, act of monitoring the Web, passing judgments, and dishing out punishment or blocking sites.  Some of these folks insist that I have already said too much on a matter that is none of my administrative business.

What I’d like to do is appeal to students’ roles as influencers with the ability to set a leadership tone for the campus and beyond.

Some think this site is an example of talented work.  For me, this is a reminder that as a creator, I must always ask, “What do you want your great piece of work to stand for?” “Can you stand behind your work?” Do you want to stand behind your work?”  My sincere hope is that we all will be known for doing something valuable and contributing to the culture?

In fairness, I’m also calling out the users of this site.  We have the ability to never see this site and the power to demand that this form of entertainment move along and away from us.  Personally, I believe my deliberate avoidance of this sort of entertainment is my small way to affirm the dignity of individuals.  This is the time for me to simply stop and consider how I spend my time and whether the way I spend my time piles on to the growing heap of affronts.  Can we be the barriers to demeaning online behavior?  We all need respect, and now, desperately need to give it to each other.

But what if the site simply disappears? Would the disappearance of the site excuse us from engaging in a few of the big conversations? Conversations about human objectification as entertainment; the pitfall of online anonymity to breed disrespect, aversion, and hatefulness; the importance for people to express themselves without identification; and the kind of environment we want online.

It is not tough to notice that we use the Internet to connect with each other; persuade; have shared experiences; research; remix; and, engage big ideas.  I do not want to be in an environment where I have to monitor the thousands of posts, new sites, status updates, programs, music, and other online expressions of people within this community with a goal of removing material or initiating disciplinary action for what I deem inaccurate, offensive, insensitive, or bland.

What kind of community do we want? The Web is filled with sites that have gone by the wayside because people – potential users – have made it clear to site creators that their work is repugnant to the values and standards of particular communities.

Personally, I am committed to conversation and exploring life’s questions that are part of my daily life – an American tradition of anonymous speech that has created incredible trouble and wonderful change.  For me, it’s also about trying hard to give respect – both online and in the “real world.”  I try to set a leadership example, in the moral and a cultural sense that goes beyond what’s legal or disciplinary – at times, it’s the best I can do.  I try to be at my highest and best self.

I see this as an opportunity to infuse more civility online and in real time.

Increase the conversations.  Remain thoughtful.  Care.

Peace.

12 comments

  1. Well said, Dean Elmore.

    Regardless of the content (which in this instance is questionable at best), we as users need to be more aware of the impact our viewership has on the online landscape. Want this site to disappear? Then stop going to it every day to see if it is still around—it will disappear and be forgotten quickly.

    As an alumni of Boston University, it is encouraging to read your insightful, forward-thinking reaction to a situation that could’ve easily been dealt with by a press release or simple “no comment.” You are a true representation of the kind of person BU students should hope to become.

  2. “I see this as an opportunity to infuse more civility online and in real time.”

    Thank you for your wise words, Dean Elmore. Looking both at the website and the strong reaction by the BU community, civility was lost on both ends over the course of the past week. I myself was attacked via Twitter for asking people to chill out instead of calling for heads to roll. Hopefully, many students will read your post and take it as an opportunity to step back, analyze the situation, and get back into the game.

    Just as Jon Stewart called for a return to sanity six weeks ago, I hope we can all, as you said, “Increase the conversations. Remain thoughtful. Care.”

  4. I really hope this site fades from the BU community conversation. It shouldn’t be another job of yours to worry that students are subjecting peers to invasions of privacy/rights on public webspace, but it was nice to hear your take on this. There are better, more valuable issues that can use your oversight. All we can do as students is focus our attention on positive social experiences online to limit the impact of sites like ratebu. Thank you for the post, Dean Elmore!

  5. this site is pure bullying plain & simple. I hope bu is prepared to deal with the ramifications if a student hurts themself. as a school counselor, I could not advise my students to apply to bu – who wants to be in such a hurtful environment? at what 40-50k yr?

  6. Boston University does have the legal position to protect its name, and more importantly, its students. Someone using the RateBU website can upload a photograph that isn’t there own. I’m a BU alumna and currently at Rutgers, where a case of cyber bullying lead to… Well… You know the story. And you need to do more.

  7. This is sexual harassment. Elmore’s comments demonstrate that BU is unwilling to protect its female students, and is further fostering a culture which condones objectifying and demeaning people based on their sex.

    Dean, suspend or expel the student. This conduct is unacceptable.

  8. What distresses us the most about this entire conversation is the disconnect in the BU community between what is being addressed (legality of the website) and what is at stake (the dignity of people). Objectifying women is unacceptable and violent.

    Doody is right in that we live in a culture of judgement; however, he is mistaken in believing that the basest actions of our culture are also the limits of its highest aspirations.

    The legality of the website is not the greatest issue here; its inherent attitude toward women is. Furthermore, if Doody follows through with his uninformed idea to extend this website to “include” men, it is not likely to become a space that evaluates heterosexual men, but yet another arena to further objectify LGBT people.

    In essence, this website is a cesspool of sexism and patriarchy.

    One could ignore the website and hope it goes away; or one could use the knowledge and agency given them and use this moment to teach the BU community that objectification of anyone is unacceptable.

    Katie Cole
    Meredith Hoxie

  9. My administration has failed me. Where is the outcry against harassment and bullying on campus? Where is the hands down condemnation of this action, a sincere demand that this site gets taken down (legal measures aside, a blog that condemns this in no uncertain terms), the support of women targeted by this, the BUPD email alert that gets sent for every safety issue on campus? Too little, too late.

  10. Dean Elmore,
    This site is so flagrantly sexist–the recently added “Men” section asks users to rate “whisch guy has a nicer personality,” while for the women, it’s “who’s hotter?” Please, is there nothing that can be done about this? Can we at least get Doody to take “BU” out of the title? Turning to you for thoughtful recourse and protection of females on the site. Please consult with faculty about it and take more of a stand than this.

  11. You talk like a man with no feeling for women.
    This is wrong and I am a Father of one of your students and you are backing down. You know better!!!!
    Woman must not accept; she must challenge. 

    She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression. 


    Margaret Sanger 




    “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” 

 Gloria Steinem
    TO bad you let down 65% of your Student body!!!
    Mark Andrew Isley

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