"What does gossip mean to you?" said Arielle Long, president of Women Helping Other Women organization and a senior in international business.
W.H.E.W., a sigh of relief organization, held its first meeting Oct. 19 in the Student Center.
The organization began in April 2009 and reached provisionary status in September, Long said.
Nineteen members and friends attended the round table meeting and discussed "gossip" as their first topic of the semester.
"Gossip is an exaggeration or fabrication of any story," said Kimberly James, treasurer and sophomore in political science and Spanish. "It doesn't have to be a false story; if you exaggerate it to demean that person, then it is considered gossip."
The organization provides moral support and serves as a place where women can learn from each other.
The group also evaluates worldly issues with a Christian perspective, according to the W.H.E.W. Facebook group.
The meeting began with a prayer, creed reciting and what was called a "p.i.f. me down."
During "p.i.f. me down" each person told a personal interesting fact about themselves, such as an achievement or a life-altering event.
The organization's creed states: "As members of W.H.E.W., we strive to be the woman that God wants us to be. Remembering that unity starts with you, not only will we better ourselves, but we will uplift, encourage and empower each other in a nurturing and confidential manner."
The question, "What does the Bible have to say about gossip?" was raised by Long for discussion.
"We want to be an outlet and encourage personal growth and working together," Long said.
Andrea Crayton, sophomore in biomedical sciences, quoted scriptures from the Bible to enlighten the group about gossip.
"Romans 13:9 says, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,'" Crayton said. "If you wouldn't do it to yourself, why would you do it to others?"
It was also discussed how gossip can be harmful and hurtful, causing anorexia, bulimia and even suicide.
"We have to watch what we say because the mouth is a powerful thing," said Tacara Bedell, sophomore in apparel merchandising design and product development.
Positive ways to deal with gossip, how it affects people, gossip in the media, such as Juicy Campus, Facebook and MySpace, were also discussed.
How to confront someone about gossip was discussed as well.
"My preacher said 'if you have haters then you must have something going for yourself, so keep going,'" said Gabrielle Allen, sophomore in pre-pharmacy.
Joseph Simmons, also known as Rev. Run, from the group Run-DMC, is known for breaking hip-hop into mainstream music.
He wrote on his Twitter page, "Don't argue with the fool, 'cause from a distance people can't tell who's who," Long said.
Group members will be keeping journals to write about things they deal with to purge the information instead of keeping it inside.
"The meeting was very enlightening as far as what my friends were talking about," said Sacona Sherffield, freshman in math education. "I heard horror stories coming in as a freshman, but I didn't know it was that serious."
The group will meet every Monday at 6 p.m., in yet-to-be-determined locations.
"I have to come back on Monday, and I will actually become a member," Sherffield said. "It was very good, and I want to bring diversity because other races go through the same things."
The group will work with other on-campus organizations through the spring.
More information can be found at the Women Supporting Women Facebook page.
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