Plastered bulletin boards and chalk-covered sidewalks have made it hard to avoid UF's newest student-focused website: fratweiner.com.
The website is run by part of the assumed male, non-Greek portion of the student population.
Featuring candid, phone-quality pictures of fraternity members on campus doing everything from walking to class to hanging at the Reitz Union, as well as Sperry-clad induced captions like, "Straight Off the Yacht," the website, at first, seems comical.
But quickly the mood turns, and the site becomes, as some have said, comparable to a "Mean Girls" style "Burn Book."
With the ability to comment on photos anonymously available to everyone, what might have been seen as funny has morphed into a type of cyberbullying.
Explicit comments are becoming more common, and most of them are aimed at the young men's sexuality, one referring to a member as, "the frattiest [expletive] I've ever seen."
As far as the pictures portray, the posts are unique to UF.
To some, the comments aren't considered a big deal.
"The people in the pictures are anonymous, too," said Jeffrey Rudolph, an 18-year-old pre-pharmacy freshman. "Since anyone can comment on the website, they have the ability to counteract anything they don't like. I don't see the problem."
Though fraternity members are the subjects of all the scorn, the Greek community as a whole is offended.
"Clearly someone is very bitter if they have to tear other people down to make themselves feel better," said Chrissy McLarty, a 20-year-old telecommunication junior and member of a sorority.
In response, UF has stated that it cannot take action as long as the posts remain anonymous. UF can only take action under university policy if the identity of the poster(s) is revealed.
"Being unkind to other people is not necessarily a violation of the student conduct code," said Mandy Hambleton, assistant director for Student Conduct and Conflict Resolutions. "The reason we have the conflict resolution services is so that we can respond to conflicts that occur that aren't violations of university policy."
