Oh David. I have to admit, that is impressive. I hope you never get a grudge against me (wait, I’m an abstract composite concept…guess there’s not much to discuss).

It’s pretty scary to think that the company that Rob Shvern is the president of the host of such websites as:

“Al-Qaeda Appreciation Society of North America”: http://amerika.org/

“Anarchy Now! A practical manifesto for the practicing dissident”
http://www.anarchy.net/

“As it burned and the smell of dusty planks and charring parchment filled the air… our faces remained calm but our hearts were secretly glad for the end of its dominance, its guilt, and the paranoia that had been in the town for as long as the wood of the church.”
http://www.churcharson.com/

“WHILE Israel fights Hezbollah with tanks and aircraft, its supporters are campaigning on the internet. Israel’s Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda.”
http://www.infoterror.com/

“Jehovah, father of bondage to impotence / You plead like a child for us to serve you / But we have now risen above shallow ignorance / We shun your weakness and set your Kingdom ablaze”
http://fuckgod.com/

And there appear to be lots more . . .

This is the 33-year-old non-student who created the pro-Hitler posters and hung them around campus in response to the Holocaust Remembrance Day posters?

“If I lived in the same dorm as Julia, then I might have some concerns about Robert Shvern coming to visit.”

Especially if he has access to your computers:

“1997
GMU SCHOOL FILES LOST
Accused Computer Hackers Arrested

Computer hackers have invaded the databanks at George Mason
University, destroying student and faculty files and sending derogatory
messages about a school official.

Fairfax Police and the university have investigated 11 incidents of
computer hacking since April. The intrusions mostly affect projects at the
School of Information Technology and Engineering.

Last month, authorities arrested two George Mason students in several
hacking incidents. Police said Robert Shvern of Alexandria installed a
virus into the school’s computer. Ryan Whelan of Centreville allegedly
erased Shvern’s messages to hinder the investigation.

Shvern is charged with computer trespassing, forgery and theft of
services. Whelan is charged with being an accessory after the fact.”

(”Shvern” is Yiddish for “swear.”)

Since the evidence was destroyed (kind of like the faux-Williams and Friendster sites disappearing), not enough existed when the case was brought to trial.

I guess he’s given Julia her high horse to ride:

“Subject: Re: Nietzschean Ethics
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 20:15:24 -0500 (EST)
From: “Robert Shvern”

I would be interested in anyone who would be kind enough to email me, or post to this list-server information, interpretations, etc. on Nietzschean ethics specifically to the will to power to dominate others.

More specifically would Nietzsche agree that we (sic) it is justified to dominate others if that is our will. Thank you!”

David, maybe you should use “Svengali” in the title of one of your next posts.

In a WSO discussion last spring, after being accused that she had “some real issues to work out with racism”, Julia posted this link on anti-racist nationalism:

http://www.anus.com/tribes/arn/

Anus.com is registered to Throne Networks in McLean, VA.

Was it not a couple of threads ago that some in here
went off on my comment to Kane about not pretending to be a babe in the woods on issues such as this? I believe the thread took a bizzare turn in order to out my ip address, did it not? (although I thought we had all agreed, that is not cool) Sadly, this type of thing exists more than any of us would like to admit.
Now I hate to say I told some of you so, but- I told you so!

OK, Julia, what do you have planned?

And I don’t see that anyone even mentioned outing your ip address.

Has your hacker boyfriend been foiled?

Taken from the WSO blog about illegal immigrants * Julia*
I tell dead baby jokes all the time, doesn’t mean I am prejudiced against dead babies, or hell, even live ones. Really, why everybody has their panties in a twist over a game that is obviously a joke is beyond me. Oh wait, no it’s not- they love to pretend to be self-righteously indignant at any chance they get. It might be just because I’m from Texas, but I love shooting things and playing that duck hunt game just hasn’t been doing it for me since I’ve left the Lone Star State. Can’t wait to get home and sit at my door polishing my .45 and waiting for somenody to miss the “Tresspassers Will be shot, survivors WILL be prosecuted” sign.

This is seriously creepy and obsessive. Tracking down people you don’t know on the internet, making conjectures about their identities, and then making your assumptions about their characters public does not represent Williams in a way I’d like to be associated with (of course, nor do the Hitler posters, but I really shouldn’t have to say that). Do you realize that you could be completely wrong, and the only information about them that you can be sure you are right about and the only information that is actually your business is what actually happened at Williams? Also, a bunch of alums who really should have lives dredging up old WSO posts to discuss them on an outside blog smacks of torrid gossip and far less maturity than the 20 year olds on campus are exhibiting (and if the 20 year olds on campus did it on WSO itself, it would be less inappropriate than this). Please just give it up.

Eph ‘07, I have to disagree. Although David’s amateur investigative work might seem to be a bit extreme, given the extent to which Rob Shvern’s relevance to the campus has become increasingly significant over the past couple of weeks, I don’t think it is at all unwarranted or immature. From what I’ve seen so far, Rob is actually on campus (I’ve yet to see any evidence that he has left since the day the posters went up, and he himself mentioned meeting / talking to students shortly afterwards), and I believe that students are perfectly entitled to know what that may mean for them. And if it means that the campus is currently playing host to a misanthropic anarchist prone to threats of violence and support of terrorism (both physical and psychological), then all I can say is (1) I’m glad I don’t live anywhere near Noah Lindquist, or attend any of the same classes as him, and (2) I hope that the administration does something about this for the sake of maintaining the safety of the students.

Cheers.

That’s the craziest thing I have ever read. I didn’t think people like that existed outside of movies. My Lord. All apologies to the JRC folks for thinking they were being oversensitive - the people who mocked what they did apparently really are scary nutjobs.

Thorne Networks?

Larry Thorne, born Lauri Törni, in Viipuri, Finland, 1919.

A highly-decorated soldier who fought with the Finnish army against the Soviets, leading long-range guerilla raids. He also served with the Waffen-SS. At the war’s conclusion, he was imprisoned as a war criminal under the terms of the Finnish-Soviet armistice.

In his prewar life, Torni served with the Finnish Civil Guard, an organization with distinct Fascistic/irredentist leanings.

Torni eventually made his way to the US. He changed his name to Thorne, joined the US army, and served with the Special Forces in Vietnam, eventually attaining the rank of Captain. He was killed (MIA, but remains later discovered) in a helicopter crash.

http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/t/t375.htm

http://www.larrythorne.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_Törni

http://www.amazon.com/Soldier-Under-Three-Flags-Exploits/dp/0934793654

The name could, of course, be a coincidence.

Well reading-freakin’-comprehension.

THRONE Networks.

Right. Forget Larry Thorne.

It looks like one of Mr. Shvern’s websites has spawned a school shooting: http://www.americandaily.com/nucleus/plugins/print/print.php?itemid=7220

Uncoincidentally, both Julia’s manifesto to Dean Toomajian(http://www.ephblog.com/2007/04/24/Show-Us-The-Posters/)
and “creepy boyfriend”’s rants on the quasi-official “Williams Commentator” site (since disbanded) borrow heavily from (”bizarrely intersect” with?) Shevren’s Throne Networks sites:

“Writer Steve Martinez of the Nationalist News Network (www.nazi.org/nazi/policy/weise) wrote that the LNSGP, “on whose message board Jeff Weise posted one year before shooting people at his Minnesota high school, today refused to wring hands over a ‘tragedy,’ instead pointing out that such events are to be expected when thinking people are crammed into an unthinking, irrational modern society. According to the LNSG, the school shooting itself is not our failure; society is our failure, and the school shooting is a symptom.”

All of these sites, including the http://www.nazi.org site, appear to be hosted by the Virginia-based Throne Networks.

A call to Throne Networks was not returned and an e-mail requesting comment was returned as undeliverable.

The company’s policy on hosting reads in part (www.throne.net/policies.html), “We do not censor customer web pages because of objections to the opinions expressed within. Our policy adheres to the precedents established for Human Rights by the United Nations, the United States Constitution, and applicable state and local laws. ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. - The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19.’

Throne Networks apparently buys computer space from a Chantilly, VA-based company called Two Radical Technologies, Inc. Their web site is http://www.2rad.net”

At the very least, Williams should have Julia resubmit her plagiarized “statement of intent” with the proper citations.

And further investigation would be a perfect assignment for a serious Record journalist.

“Please just give it up.”

That would just be irresponsible. You would like to believe that if you don’t think about it, it doesn’t exist?

If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and in this case, craps like a duck, it is a duck. Kane is right to do what he is doing chasing this to ground. It beats the state of denial
in previous posts.
“This kind of thing can never happen here, here at Williams, we are above all this.” Not so much.

“I hope that the administration does something about this for the sake of maintaining the safety of the students.”

Are any students in touch with members of the administration to the extent that they can direct the college to this important information?

“Are any students in touch with members of the administration to the extent that they can direct the college to this important information?”

I doubt it’s anything a simple e-mail couldn’t accomplish. I encourage any students with opinions or concerns about this, regardless of which side of the fence you come down on, to e-mail Dean Roseman and let her know about it. I already have, and I hope other students (and others, e.g. alumni, who feel so inclined) do the same.

Cheers.

I doubt that you care but Williams just accepted 1120 for the class of 2011 and you are not doing much to make it sound like a school students want to attend…I know you will say if you don’t like it don’t come cause we don’t want you anyway…not sure admissions shares that view

Just so everyone can see how fine and upstanding our Julia is (from the “No Juden” thread):

“A few posts ago, I told you so. Only to be marginalized and to have my ip address plastered all over this blog…. well… I told you so.
Posted by: at April 27, 2007 11:47 PM

“Only to be marginalized”
Julia, you did a good job of doing that yourself. It’s oh-so-easy to always blame someone else. Like it’s been said here before, you have no conscience, no soul, no heart — and no brains. You may have a good vocabulary, but you know nothing about being intelligent.
Posted by: not a lover of white trash at April 28, 2007 12:34 PM”

“I doubt that you care but Williams just accepted 1120 for the class of 2011 and you are not doing much to make it sound like a school students want to attend…”

Perhaps, but I hardly think that rolling over and accepting the distribution of Hitler posters is going to make the most positive of impressions, either. From a strictly admissions standpoint, it’s been essentially a salvage operation from the beginning. Either we ignore it and present ourselves as a campus that has no problem with such bigotry and subsequent threats of violence, or we don’t ignore it and, while it may make the issue more widely-known, earn the opposite reputation. The fact that it happened in the first place, however, makes it difficult for Admissions regardless of where it goes from there, and no amount (nor any absence) of hullabaloo on Ephblog or WSO is going to make that better.

Cheers.

Looks like we need to set up some good old fashioned reeducation camps to set these youngsters straight. In my day we used an iron fist to crush any intolerance. No one can veer from the program if we diligently employ thought reform to persuade others to our position. Only this freedom and liberation from bad ideas can save the children.

Darren,

Like others of your ilk, you’re missing the point entirely.

I still just can’t believe this. Freakin’ unbelievable - an honest to God neo-nazi loon, at Williams. I honestly thought they didn’t exist anymore. I’m speechless.

Wow, looks like David Kane’s obsessive interest in Williams has actually generated something useful. Very nice!

Actually, Julia has censored her own speech: while cloaked in the concept of “free speech,” she stops short of proclaiming that the real purpose of her scheme was to “put the Juden in their place.” I guess she hasn’t reached “the level of transcendence necessary for (her) to earn the right to be called educated” (quoted from her manifesto).

Her actions speak much louder than her words, though.

Wow… This saga has been developing and evolving faster than I have been able to follow. If someone has the time, I would really appreciate a (relatively) brief chronology of events to get caught up to speed. Trying to navigate through all of these threads is way too confusing.

But EphBlog was mentioned in The Record, so at least some good has come of this debacle.

From Julia today @ 6:24 am:
“Sadly, this type of thing exists more than any of us would like to admit. Now I hate to say I told some of you so, but- I told you so!”

Lest we forget what she said four days ago:
“There are people at Williams who are pro Hitler. What it means is obvious. There is more of this in our world than anyone would like to admit. Stop playing naive Kane. The babe in the woods routine to create discussion is nice, but I know you are smarter than that. Those of us who have been blogging here for some time, know better.” 4/24/07 11:47 am (”Show Us the Posters”)

“I hate to say I told some of you so, but- I told you so!”

Seems like she loves to hate.

“(”Shvern” is Yiddish for “swear.”)”

The Human Stain?

So Julia has outed herself as “pro Hitler. What it means is obvious.”

Not so obvious is where Williams will go from here. If I were Jewish (or any of the other non-preferred groups — what those are I don’t care to know), this would constitute, for me, a hostile environment: with the specter of wondering what shape her and her boyfriend’s next “statement” might take.

That’s the craziest thing I have ever read. I didn’t think people like that existed outside of movies. My Lord. All apologies to the JRC folks for thinking they were being oversensitive - the people who mocked what they did apparently really are scary nutjobs.

For future reference. Normal people don’t hang Hitler posters in response to Holocaust Remembrance Day. They don’t think hanging Hitler posters is funny. And, on the odd chance they smoke a little too much refer and make a boneheaded mistake, they apologize profusely for doing something so offensive.

Not so obvious is where Williams will go from here.

It’s a tough situation for Morty. What won’t help him at all is a bunch of students championing Bong Hits 4 Hitler and her Idiot Boyfriend™ as martyrs for free speech.

[If I could figure out how to make "quote" tags...]
It’s a tough situation for Morty. What won’t help him at all is a bunch of students championing Bong Hits 4 Hitler and her Idiot Boyfriend™ as martyrs for free speech.
[...they would go here.]

HWC, although I do think Morty is in a bit of a pickle over all this, I don’t think the “bunch of students championing BH4H & IB™ as martyrs for free speech” is really the issue. I don’t think the majority of people believe that either should be punished simply for hanging up Yay Hitler! posters.

However, I do think that the majority think that some sort of administrative response, disciplinary or otherwise, is warranted due to what has come afterwards, i.e. the threats of violence (and the refusal to disassociate from them), the associations with organizations connected to school shootings, and so forth.

I’m all for free speech, and was (and still am) one of those students who don’t think that the speech should be punished. At this point, however, it has moved well beyond the realm of simple speech.

Cheers.

This is really a simple matter…prohibit the boyfriend from ever setting foot on campus again…Williams has no obligation to him and a single act of this nature is one more than should be tolerated…it does not matter what his rights are, let him sue if he wishes, your resources vastly exceed his and if some day he collects some monetary judgement (highly unlikely) it is just a cost of doing business. The girl sounds like a nut but she is a student at Williams and there is such a thing as the 1st amendment, so let it go. You are risking the reputation of a magnificent school, and once lost it is not easy to recover. As the nation watches the kids at Virginia Tech try to get on with their lives it is unseemly at this time to take this issue any further. There are some battles that as they say are worth “dying in the ditch” for but this is not one of them. You may think that your conscience demands that you pursue all avenues to stop what you perceive as intollerable behavior but you are wrong. There is a reason that nations have always shed the blood of their young during wars, because at 19 you do not know what is worth losing everything for. I know that sounds insulting but it is not. Some things require a longer term view. Do you feel it is in the best interest of the school to keep this going until the nation must decide through the fog of media coverage if Williams is a hot bed for Nazi simpathisers. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 million people died fighting this battle you are not going to solve it. Somebody once said it is a bad idea to burn down the house in which you live. Let it go.

To wit, there is no case here. There is no violation. Where is the injury? To make claim by a poster is to underwrite the refrain: “a picture is worth a thousand words”. It appears that this incident has overwhelmed our senses and now we can hear the echo of conceit and hubris.

It appears that members of our beloved Williams demand action for the behavior of this young student’s ill found actions for the presumptuous encroachments on certain members of our Williams College household. These forced actions in no certain terms can be categorized as a character flaw resulting in the charge of “Hubris”. As for the pleasure in hubris, in the form of revenge, can often result in fatal retribution.

Let us pause and consider the matter before us and most of all WIlliams.

We must stand together and winter our discontent.

Horace (and Anonymous), I’ll reiterate the point once more, since you seem to have missed it. The issue is no longer the posters, nor have they (or First Amendment rights) been the issue for some time. The issue is the perception of threat (and, at least once, the actual presence of threat c/o Shvern) by members of the Williams College community as a result of Julia’s and Shvern’s actions after the fact. Perhaps the hysteria is overblown. However, in the face of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the most realistic approach to this situation is one that most decisively is aimed at avoiding a result involving the words “We saw the warning signs, but didn’t think they would amount to much.”

As an aside, for those of you interested, neither of these two individuals’ Friendster pages are any longer online. Hope somebody saved them while they had the chance, eh? Seems the objective is to erase all possible evidence once again.

Cheers.

Re: Shvern — if it’s yiddish, it’s probably similar, if not identical, in German. The “Shv-” words didn’t differentiate much, other than regional accents, between the two languages. See, e.g., Schvartz/Schwartz.

I think the best think to do is bar that clown from campus. I actually think asking her to take a year off would be counterproductive, as she clearly needs time away from Svengali, not more time with him.

Julia on a WSO blog, posted at 9:10 am today:
“I love shooting things … Can’t wait to get home and sit at my door polishing my .45 and waiting for somenody to miss the ‘Tresspassers Will be shot, survivors WILL be prosecuted’ sign.”

“This is seriously creepy and obsessive.” eph ‘07, today 11:14 am

“in the face of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the most realistic approach to this situation is one that most decisively is aimed at avoiding a result involving the words ‘We saw the warning signs, but didn’t think they would amount to much.’” Walker, today 10:35 pm

I agree wholeheartedly. The community has tried to reach out to Julia, but she’s playing some other kind of game.

I hope the deans are reading. This is one they can’t just “let … go.”

There is a lot of potential harm in wackos having or supporting dissenting social viewpoints. It would be in everyone’s best interest to reel in such people so they can be steered to more agreeable ideas. We don’t want a campus where people entertain such paths and the idea of “uncomfortable learning” is antiquated and inappropriate. Research has shown students do best when taught the classics. Any divergence from that just ensures mediocrity.

Appropriate solution:

1) Post fascist Rob from campus. This should be an easy first step (the college can post whomever it wants). School is protected from him and Julia (if she chooses to stay at Williams) is at least given some distance.

2) Drag Julia into the Dean’s office, see if she’s as deranged/intractable as her words suggest and if she’s totally lost touch with reality. Let the school go from there.

Too bad his old site (http://www.site.gmu.edu/~rshvern) — which apparently had a section entitled “Dedication to pure hate, evil and destruction” — is no longer available. The person who linked to it (http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Bookmarks.html#Rob%20Schvern;%20RobLink) called it “truly weird”.

Looks like Rob also used to post GMU salary information on that site; he later transferred it to http://www.roblink.com, where you can still view it today. You might enjoy reading his rants about censorship and GMU faculty, including a mention of one professor whose “decadent lifestyle brought him a deserved death”.

http://roblink.com/tenyears.html

It seems the guy has a beef with people who reject rationalism and work against free speech. No wonder the response he’s received has been so brutal. It’s kind of like smashing the same two brick walls against each other; nothing will ever change because both sides are polarized in their True Belief about what to think. There is no change of opinions or even an attempt to understand, only arrogant ugliness on all sides.

Is it still legal to beat dead horses? Where is the SPCA?

Hopeless:

You are truly that. If you knew anything about Williams, you would know that the issue is not free speech at this point.

I would be curious to find why he hasn’t moved to a country like Sweden or France where people are a more tolerant to a wide range of ideas. You can’t complain about public intolerance if you are dealing with the wrong public.

You’re being ironic about tolerance to a wide range of ideas, right? France is tolerant to a wide range of some ideas, but certainly not other (e.g., any mention of religion even tangential to the public square). Rob would also probably be displeased by its ban on the sale of Nazi memorabilia.

Free speech doesn’t exist in Continental Europe, not in the sense that we Americans know and enjoy it; “societal” tolerance to ideas doesn’t mean much if the government can trump that on a whim.

I’m curious- those of you who seem to think fascist Rob is suffering only because our society is intolerant- do you oppose the decision in post-war Germany to proscribe Mein Kampf?

For better or for worse, the kid is clearly a free speech radical displaced from the 60s Berkeley Free Speech Movement. It could do some good to bring back campus activism and broader campus advocacy for political causes instead of complacency.

“Remember” and “get some help”-

First of all, I am not Julia. Second of all, my comments are critical of the previous assertions that prejudice in this form does not happen in Ivory towers. As you both obviously know, it does.
In the first few threads on this topic, many in here were in denial about the realities of bigotry in our world. What was done here (the posters) was so obviously wrong that it makes me want to get sick. Using my comments and coming up with the conclusion that I am supporting this kind of garbage (the mary jane hitler posters or whatever you want to call them) is way off base. RE READ. My comments are being critical of the naivety of some on this blog who failed to accept that this kind of prejudice is around us, and happens even at places like Williams.
I am being critical of David for not seeing this for what it is right away, and calling for not calling a duck a duck. In the comment above, I am being critical of some of those who blog here who actually found grounds to defend the posters in some way.

There was some Eph bloggers in previous posts who compared the Holocaust to other atrocities in order to belittle the gravity of what the Nazis did. I found that disturbing as well.

So, one last time.
I am not Julia.
I do not support her actions.
I do not attempt to expalin what was done in this case as anything other than what it is on its face. Vile.

Oh, and I did not post that foolish statement about Texas and guns, either.

Anyone else checking out the absolute whitewash of this event printed in the current edition of the Record? Talk about protecting the Eph image at all costs! The Record regurgitates some of the old bogus “head in the sand” talking points originally delivered here on ephblog.
Maybe the folks over at the Record should read this blog? They would discover that the “it was done to encourage debate” snowjob has been proven false by Kanes outstanding legwork. I am glad Kane had the courage to take a closer look at the players in this scandle.
White supremists who have access to campus and girlfriends posting “refer Madness Hitler posters” threatening Eph students with violence. “All in the name of promoting honest debate” YEAH RIGHT! Wake up and smell the coffee.

Walker
“perception of threat”
It looks like you would make an excellent lawyer if that is where your interests take you. As you “shop” for a cause of action and center on the “perception of threat” maybe take a step back. The 1.3 billion in this world who subsist on less than a $1 a day, the people in Darfur, battered spouses who are told my the police that there is nothing that can be done to protect them if they have not actually been assaulted, the kids at VT hearing the footsteps coming towards their room after hearing the shoots down the hall, these and countless others felt threatened. You are not going to find the world will have a lot of sympathy for a bunch of students at an elite $50,000 a year “purple bubble” in the mountains, who go around posting flyers on each others doors, but you just may ruin the reputation of Williams.

Dear anon@09:03: your post is a complete non sequitur.

Anonymous @ 9:03 am:

The college is responsible for insuring the safety of its students, and doing whatever it can to make sure that Williams students do not have to suffer the fate of “the kids at VT hearing the footsteps coming towards their room after hearing the shoots down the hall.” As you said, “these and countless others felt threatened.” And the administration has a responsibility to make sure that “the world (does not have to) have a lot of sympathy for a bunch of students at an elite $50,000 a year ‘purple bubble’ in the mountains.” If the safety of all 2000 students is not the college’s number one priority, that “just may ruin the reputation of Williams.”

Ronit
As an aside…complete non sequitur is redundant…
Non sequitur is Latin for “it does not follow.” In formal logic, an argument is a non sequitur if the conclusion does not follow from the premise. In a non sequitur, the conclusion can be either true or false, but the argument is a fallacy because the conclusion does not follow from the premise. All formal fallacies are specific types of non sequitur. The term has special applicability in law, having a formal legal definition.

Here are two types of non sequitur of traditional noteworthiness:

1) Any argument that takes the following form is a non sequitur:

If A is true, then B is true.
B is stated to be true.
Therefore, A must be true.
Even if the premises and conclusion are all true, the conclusion is not a necessary consequence of the premises. This sort of non sequitur is also called affirming the consequent.

An example of affirming the consequent would be:

If I am a human (A) then I am a mammal. (B)
I am a mammal. (B)
Therefore, I am a human. (A)
…There are no partial non sequiturs…

There is no insurance - barely any bona fide ensurance. Life is a risky proposition.

Thanks for the info, Captain Obvious. Glad to see you got a passing grade on intro logic.

Updated: anonhost.org/williams

Well, sort of updated, in the sense that it now automatically redirects to williams.anonhost.org, but that page says Page Not Found, so I guess the update was taking the page down entirely?

Its nice to know that if I ever screw something up I’ll have a cohort of internet bloggers to reasearch my entire past history. Makes me sleep better at night.

Page not found? For me it now shows an essay on free will, which ends: “A gentle tolerance of diversity and polite civility allows human knowledge to increase instead of increasingly constricting intellectualism to lowest common denominator mob rule. Remove the blackness from your heart and have a little faith in mankind.”

I kept looking for the word “hypocrisy.”

And still maintaining it’s only about free speech …

“a cohort of internet bloggers to reasearch my entire past history. Makes me sleep better at night.”

David and all the other researchers are actually providing a valuable service to the entire Williams community, both on and off campus. And doing exactly what the College has asked the community to do: in Williams’s April 24th “Message to the Community,” “caring about the well-being of all community members” was emphasized. Earlier (April 6th), in a message announcing the death of a beloved member of the community, Dean Roseman wrote: “I encourage all of us to be aware of who around us could use our support.” This type of community awareness will serve Williams well as (and partly because of this diligence) a signal emerges from the noise.

It’s important to consider the consequences of our actions, especially in this day and age. As has been mentioned, employers, acquaintances, and, even college admission officers are increasingly turning to the Internet as an additional useful source.

Am I the only one that thinks the posting of all this personal information in a public space is kind of creepy as well? How would you all feel if it was you instead of this Rob fellow in the spotlight?

“How would you all feel if it was you instead of this Rob fellow in the spotlight?”

I wouldn’t mind at all. If I did it, I take ownership for it.

ephmom, I doubt most people share your openness. Most people don’t like aspects of their private lives to be made public to such a wide audience, even if they are unashamed of their actions.

if you don’t want this type of scrutiny, don’t POST A POSTER OF HITLER ON PEOPLE’S DORM ROOMS, especially if you’re a 33 year old non-student with links to hate groups.

it’s really a simple idea.

It is not helpful when people speak in negatives. What is the broader issue than whether someone is for or against free speech?

It’s really a question of the College having the responsibility to maintain a safe, non-threatening environment for the students — and that includes acting in a proactive, preventive way. Which brings up a related issue: how much of the theft, vandalism, and other destructive activity that occurs on campus is the result of the actions of non-(Williams) students? This comment on WSO in reference to the recent vandalism of a vending machine may provide an answer:

“I did notice a lot of people milling around drinking outside the entrance to Prospect on Saturday night, and I’m really sorry I didn’t call security about them. They looked a bit old to be Williams students.”

The significance of the message of caring and awareness mentioned in recent college missives cannot be underestimated.

How would you all feel if it was you instead of this Rob fellow in the spotlight?

I thought he wanted to “provoke discussion”? Well, we’re giving him all the discussion he could want.

In the 50s the campus was invaded by numerous uninvited outsiders during major social weekends such as Fall House Parties, Reunion Weekend, Winter Carnival and Spring House Parties. A disproportionately high quantity of theft and vandalism arose out of those visitors - who could be discouraged by a student’s closely following them until they moved on.