The Present School Controversy

To answer Steve Rebooted in my prior post “Cinderella Was Weak“:

Before this year, a lot of outcries have been heard of concern for students at my university. Some of these worries are well-placed and some are simply unfounded! This year, there was a lot of media recently on the anonymous online message board for Johns Hopkins students, JHUConfessions. The local news has basically turned this into a farce, confirming fears from the school administration that students are pulling down the reputation of JHU by posting about taboo and shocking subjects (drugs, sex, random vices, gossip). The same news reporters covered embarrassments at JHU before (see “A Past School Controversy“). The reporters have shown themselves to be more wanting to feed off of the potential for frenzy than to actually report the news for what it is.

JHUConfessions was created by Andrew Mann, a senior, as a way for students to voice their thoughts. Many students do not go to counseling or know a goo way to talk to people face to face about the topics discussed. While the board isn’t meant to act as any substitute for parents, friends, or professional guidance, I think it probably helps a lot of people who otherwise could never talk about certain issues with anyone.

Anyone can view the message boards. To post on the board, you must be a JHU student, confirmed by JH email. I think it is probably not that hard to track which poster wrote which post/ reply due to this, as well as by IP Number (although current technology makes it possible to avoid the IP identification). While students do seem to make sure they remain anonymous, they do seem to trust the integrity of the system not to reveal their identity. On some level, this poses a problem for JHUConfessions, should there be posts regarding suicide, violence, and other ethical violations. But for the most part, it’s kids writing things about other kids (and other people too). As such, they can be mean spirited and good natured. When people mention names, the person might reply to the forum or never see the post at all! Most of the people who use JHUConfessions look like underclassmen, so a great number of the student body does not participate in the discussions (but they probably view them).

A lot of people are saying JHUConfessions should be banned and user should be punished, I really don’t know what to tell those people as a stranger. I would say that the rate of depression is extremely high at JHU, moreover increased by the atmosphere of the city as claustrophobic. Students fear going a few blocks away from campus without the school shuttle, thinking they will be shot or attacked in some way.

*/digression
Yes, I tell people who come to prospective student visits not to come here if they can’t handle the stress. It’s a serious issue that I’m not sure the counseling center has enough manpower to handle. There are 4,000 undergraduates and at least 2/3 of the school has asked for help. As the saying goes: it’s not as hard to get into JHU as it is to leave!
The parents always get mad when current students tell them to make informed choices with their kid. But I see them walking around campus with those yellow JHU visitor totebags and it screams WARNING.
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I love my school and I know we have a beautiful green campus that some kids can only see pictures of. But I also see the despair when much of the student population is under suicide watch by the counseling center during Finals. I see kids far from home and trying to fit in to a new place they don’t really understand and can’t really explore. I see people who want to interact with others but are afraid to say the wrong things. There’s a lot of silence at JHU and I don’t see the good in shutting up voices that need to be heard.

~ by paperdreamer on May 12, 2008.