By David Boyle & Andrea Park
Gargoyle co-editor-in-chief & staff reporter
Published Friday, Dec. 16, 2005, Gargoyle, in depth

Julie Chen: Spunky, short, and sassy, this girl is willing to tell you what is on her mind. While at Uni, she's noticed a trend — classes are becoming more rude and disrespectful each year. We heard that she's been in more than one argument regarding freshman blogs. In mid-November, we set out to discover what Julie really thinks about the underclassmen, including cliques like the BC. It turns out that underneath the tough exterior, Julie is just concerned with the changing atmosphere at Uni.

We heard that seniors think that classes are getting progressively worse every year. What do you think about that?
Um, I definitely agree with that. I think there is a more public school atmosphere. OK, they [the younger classes] seem to be more influenced by the media more, and taking in all these messages. The clothes that they wear and the way that they act. Like, I am wearing Abercrombie & Fitch right now but, um, not in the way, not the store brands that they buy, because everyone is influenced by that. But it's just the way that they don't respect people that much. Like when we were subbie buddies to that class [the freshmen], we could never get them to shut up. They would just keep talking and talking. They don't respect people.

What is one thing you wish you could tell them? A message to all freshmen, sophomores and subbies?
They should have more respect for people and that they aren't the sh*t and that they are not the best people in the school.

What do you think about the juniors?
I like the juniors. I also like the sophomores. It starts with the freshmen.

So do you have any other comments about the whole grouping mentality?
I don't care about the SS anymore; you guys can do whatever you want because you have been since sophomore year. But I think it's stupid that these people are making more cliques. Like the BC. I mean, what's the point of it? I mean, they've already had arguments with their class. You've heard about their class meeting?

No, we haven't.
Well, during their class meeting Lizzy and Elaine [Lizzy Warner and Elaine Gu, members of the BC] didn't end up going, and during that meeting they [the other class members] started to insult the BC and how they were cliquey and annoying and nobody liked them. And then they heard about it, and they talked to their friends about it and now their friends are apologizing to them and saying they didn't mean anything they said.

What's one thing you wish you could change about Uni?
Like right now what is one thing I wish I could change?

Yeah.
Well, the administration.

In what respect?
Well, um, OK. Well, I think the admin should stop trying to get so close to the students. Like their excuses are they want to get close to the students and get to know them and look cool in their eyes. What they're doing is like getting close to them, but they're finding all this information on them, and then using that information to get them in trouble.

Then you sympathize with the whole BC “alcohol” incident? [Some BC members posted pictures of themselves posing with what looked like alcohol.]
No! I think if you are willingly going to give out that information, like post that stuff on a public site, then you want people to see it. But with the party thing and drugs [an incident involving upperclassmen], I think it's something that they [the administration] shouldn't have known about because it was something private and they weren't invited and no one posted pictures, so I think that's different.

So what do you think about the gossip blogs in general, being a veteran blogger yourself?
I think that 101 blog sucks, and I think that 102 is getting pretty stupid.

What about the freshman blogs?
They can do what they want.

So what's this recent incident?
Oh, so I heard about how I thought it was stupid that freshmen were already having a petition to not go to Allerton. And then they were talking about how their clique [the BC] was the same as everyone else, like their clique wasn't a clique, just a group of friends. So I said that you guys are more than a group of friends because you guys have a name and you guys talk about each other online, publicly, and I said that. So Lizzy and Elaine, specifically Lizzy, made up a nickname for me on her latest post. She uses the word “It” whenever my name should be in there. So she goes on for a whole-page rant about what I said to her. So I don't know, I don't care anymore. She can write what she wants.

Compare your class when you were, say, freshmen to these freshmen.
Hmm. Well, we had just as much beef, but we didn't have a clique like the BC. [At this point, senior Hannah Snyder interrupts to say, “There was a clique, but there wasn't a name to it.”] That's true, because there's cliques in every class, but they put a name to it.

What do you think about underclassman dressing habits?
I think it depends on how you act in the way you dress. Because, like, I don't mind the way Ruthie [Welch] dresses — I think it's different, but I think she can pull it off. But, like, when you're dressing like that just to get attention, I think it's not good. But for other people, it's just the way you feel comfortable.