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Looks like there's just no getting away from the long arm of porn sites, even in higher ed. Here's a bizarre local news story that came out yesterday:

"College not buying domain from porn site"

by Mia Rohart, Staff Writer

HUNTINGDON--Juniata College is keeping its cool about a company using a similar Internet domain name to market sex sites.

"Our take on it is that it's really not a big issue at this time," Juniata spokesman David Gildea said.

Ray Chambers, vice president and chief information officer, responsible for all technology at the school, said the college's Web master noticed recently that the domain name similar to Juniata's www.juniata.edu owned by World Wide Media Inc. is active.

The Web master routinely does searches using Juniata and other key words to determine the accessibility of the site.

"We're interested in knowing how easy it is for prospective students to find us," Chambers said.

The Web master clicked www.juniata.com and found graphic advertisements for pornographic sites.

The college contacted World Wide Media and asked it to stop using the name, and the company said they would sell the domain name to Juniata for $5,000, Chambers said.

Such a letter didn't sound familiar to World Wide Media President Michael Berkens.

"There may have been a letter sent to us asking how much the domain was, and someone responded back to them that it was $5,000," Berkens said. "We have a lot of [domain] names and we answer a lot of e-mails. As far as a letter
from the college saying 'Hey, this is our name; we're a college, what can we do about this?' we haven't received that."

Berkens doesn't understand what the college wants with a dot-com site since colleges use dot-edu. He said he wasn't aware of a college named Juniata.

"I can appreciate that it's an important name in your area, but I've never heard of it. I mean it's not Ohio State," Berkens said.

If the college did contact World Wide Media and explain the situation, it's possible it would work with the college. The company has donated domain names to organizations before, Berken said.

The company also has gone to court several times in similar situations.

"We've never had a name taken from us by a court proceeding," Berkens said.

The company has given back names it discovered were protected by trademarks. Juniata, however, is not a trademarked name.

"Clearly, under the law, they don't have a right to their name," Berkens said.

Gildea agreed. World Wide Media Inc. isn't using a specific protected name. There are a lot of Juniatas. There's Juniata County and streets named Juniata.

When asked if Juniata College would seek legal action against the company, Gildea said "Absolutely not."

"The bottom line is if they want to talk to us, they should call or e-mail," Berkens said.

Meanwhile, Gildea has confidence in the intelligence of those searching for the college Web site.

"The people who are looking for Juniata on the Web are knowledgeable enough that they know where to find us, juniata.edu. With this information
superhighway, there's a lot of on-ramps and off-ramps, and if people don't get off at the right spot, they may end up somewhere they don't want to be. There are no editors on the Internet. People have to be careful and discerning of the massive amounts of information available," Gildea said.

By OhioMom on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 04:17 pm: Edit

Where's "Juanita College"? Seems that anyone intelligent enough to search out a good private college would not even end up on the site of a school nobody has heard of.

By George Meany on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 04:36 pm: Edit

Juniata College is in central Pennsylvania, about 30 miles south of State College, home of Penn State.

By GreenGuy03 on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 09:27 pm: Edit

What was Juanita's last name? Why was the school named after her?

By George Meany on Wednesday, February 06, 2002 - 06:06 pm: Edit

>>What was Juanita's last name?<<

"College," of course.

By Pwirth (Pwirth) on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 - 03:45 pm: Edit

Evidently this school is not well know but I read one of those books that gives lists of gem colleges no one has ever heard of and it seems according to this book that this college turns out a very large number of kids that rival Ivy league kids for entrance into graduate, med and or law schoolas well as kids that often beat out the same population for jobs.

By David Hawsey on Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 10:32 am: Edit

Having been the dean of enrollment there for five years, I can assure you that this is not entirely true. In fact, many within the "CTCL 40" group, as the forty schools are known internally, bemoan the result of being in that book. Juniata, specifically, attracted a number of kids whose parents thought: "Great! My kid isn't stellar, and has trouble applying him/herself. Maybe Juniata can "fix" him."

And pay attention to the numbers, not the percentages. Juniata only has about 15,000 living alumni. The Top 25 has hundreds of thousands, and it's a fact that thousands more ended up in top corporate and CEO positions than Juniata can boast of.

Still, a good little school in an unfortunately remote area (50 minutes from the nearest mall/restaurants), and in the shadow of Penn State. The town is depressing, although spirited and a survivor of economic challenges. "Nothing to do" is an understatement, save for the most spectacular outdoor recreation I've seen, year-round, except for Colorado and New England!

By joannie jamison on Sunday, August 04, 2002 - 11:21 pm: Edit

They must have built some new roads since you were there. You can be in Penn State in under 1/2 hour.... plenty to do there. Nearest mall is about 20 minutes away. Still a distance but nothing like what you're describing. <edited by Admin - no flames, please>

By David Hawsey on Monday, August 05, 2002 - 12:30 pm: Edit

Joannie:

The nearest mall is almost 40 miles away, and that is in State College and even then three miles east of the town and University. From Juniata College, there is only ONE road that goes directly to State College, that being 26 North, over Tussey Mountain. I lived on 26 North on the back of Standing Stone Golf course, and as of last week when I visited family and friends, no new road had been built.

Altoona's malls are also 45 minutes to the west on Route 22, and to the east on Route 22 is Lewistown, which is about 35 - 40 minutes away without traffic.

Finally, I worked at Penn State and lived in Huntingdon (actually, up the road and 5 miles closer to PSU than Juniata College is) until 2001. My best time was 35 minutes, and that's driving on the edge of safety's margin!

You must be referring to the new road (I-99) being expanded that will link I-80 to State College. It does not serve Huntingdon County.

By Scr_1525 (Scr_1525) on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 06:24 pm: Edit

Juniata is a very pretty school, I visited a few months ago. It is a small liberal arts school. And while it is no Harvard or Yale, it is a good school.

By Jackalopemonger (Jackalopemonger) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 09:22 pm: Edit

[Quote from David Hawsey]

And pay attention to the numbers, not the percentages. Juniata only has about 15,000 living alumni. The Top 25 has hundreds of thousands, and it's a fact that thousands more ended up in top corporate and CEO positions than Juniata can boast of.

[/Quote]

Umm...forgive me if this sounds stupidly self-evident, but doesn't it make sense that Juniata would have fewer alumni? After all, this is a school of about 1700 kids, right? There is no physical way that they could outperform the top ivy league schools in numbers alone, because Juniata has so fewer students than the ivies. So it's only natural that Juniata has thousands less, because it is so much smaller. If we were to judge schools solely by the number of students that graduated and found jobs, then the largest schools would be at the top of our list, not the best. Here's a hypothetical situation: say Juniata has 100% of its graduates go on to get high-end jobs. Another college, let's call it College X, which has 5,000 students, has 40% of its graduates go on to get high-end jobs. By your reasoning, since College X has a total of 2000 graduates into the good jobs as compared to Juniata with 1700 graduates into good jobs, College X is the superior college. Why?

By Billweikert (Billweikert) on Sunday, October 26, 2003 - 08:42 pm: Edit

Ok, I think someone who knows Juniata first hand should shed some light on this. Here's the scoop on Juniata from a current JC student. Juniata is a small school in a remote area, it realizes this though. Juniata isn't trying to be an ivy league school, or a big university. Juniata College is a unique place. Juniata focuses on the college community, a community which I might add is one of the friendliest around. Juniata provides students with an education that can rival nearly anywhere... look at our record w/ regards to grad. school admissions. Sure Juniata isn't even close to a metropolis... but if you want a large school in a city, then you're not Juniata's type. Juniata students are those who want a good education, a community atmosphere, a beautiful campus, and an enjoyable four years of undergraduate education. So in conclusion, don't sell Juniata short based on statistics or location.... visit it in person, talk to current students or alumni, I have faith you'll understand why Juniata is constantly being named as one of the top schools no one knows about.

By Peterline (Peterline) on Monday, November 10, 2003 - 07:09 pm: Edit

what is juniata's placement upon graduate schools? i am considering it for my undergraduate studies of pre-dentistry. i heard that their pre-health programs are pretty well respected? does anyone have any insight on this subject? also, what kind of schools are these graduates getting in to? thanks

By Marckn (Marckn) on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 12:55 am: Edit

Tonight, I was checking why one domain with the name Juniata brings up a porn site. The opening note in this discussion addresses the problem.

Some items to note:
Juniata means "beautiful river."
Juniata and Juanita are not the same name.
The porn webmaster ought to donate the name to Juniata College to avoid further confusion. He can have "Juanita" and let the college have Juniata.
There is also a "Juniata" in Michigan, and perhaps in Nebraska.
I have a vested interest in posting this. We are ready to launch a website for Juniata Baptist Church in Michigan, and were horrified to find a porn site associated with "Juniata."

Hope something can be done.

By Jchimpo91 (Jchimpo91) on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 12:07 pm: Edit

As a graduate of Juniata College, I can say this. There is a statistical analysis of the PERCENTAGE of graduates of various institutions who have completed his or her doctoral work in the area of chemistry and biochemistry. Although this does not necessarily entail the pre-health fields of study, I believe it will indirectly prove its worth. In the study, Juniata was 17th in the nation. Just for reference, Harvard was 21st. I know that 100% of 2002 graduates wishing enrollment in medical school received that admission. Upon entering, Juniata's Chemistry department was able to boast that 90% of its graduates obtained a post-graduate degree. Sure that may only be 10 or 20 people per year, but nonetheless it is an important factor. I cannot speak for other years, but generally speaking, it is fairly rare for any science student to not obtain a post-graduate position in a qualified institution. As stated previously, Juniata is a unique institution. I have heard time and time again from faculty at various "prestigious" colleges and universities marvel over the research based studies at Juniata. More impressive is that there are no graduate students at Juniata, which means all of the research is being performed by undergraduate students. In most larger schools, research experience is basically a research tech experience. Washing the dishes, growing cells, purifying protein, remedial work that has no ability to advance science. Just take a look at Juniata's Biology and Chemistry webpages to see what sort of things are being done by students at the same level as those "technicians" at other institutions. I think it is fair to say most would be impressed. As for the college life, I can say that in four years, two of which I resided in Huntingdon for the summer, I never had great difficulty finding something to do. Again, as was stated before, Juniata realizes that is resides in a small town, and there is a great deal of emphasis placed on intercampus activities. All in all, Juniata is definitely a unique place. Where else can you have personal interactions with the President, Deans, and Admissions personnel on a personal level? Where else can you be invited for departmental dinners at your research advisors house? Know their family? I believe Juniata has been developed not only to create a graduate that will be successful in his or her career, but also a well-rounded student (hence the liberal arts)who has the ability to go much further.