As I’m sure many students have seen, there are several meme pages about our university on Instagram. From relatable campus jokes to addressing real issues on campus, these pages have stirred up quite the conversation with students and faculty alike. I had the pleasure of interviewing three CU meme page admins via Instagram DMs, all of whom had some very insightful thoughts about life as a CU student and the university itself.
The first page, @cutrollin, was created by an anonymous student in 2022 and gained traction through its entertaining and sometimes controversial memes about Campbellsville University.
“At first, I was just going to make meaningless memes about campus life but then students started to send me suggestions on real topics they cared about,” wrote @cutrollin. “With time, I think the content has shifted more in that direction.”
Students aren’t the only ones keeping a close eye on the meme page.
“It’s safe to say that I share a mutual disdain with a few members of [campus] admin[istration],” @cutrollin wrote. “There are many more who are perfectly fine (and who follow the page). As far as criticisms go, I think most take it pretty well. Dr. Hopkins is a person with a clear understanding of public opinion, and I think he sees the value in the ‘work’ I do, if not always the method.”
As far as close calls on being called out as the meme page admin, @cutrollin declined to respond. The meme page admin is certainly no stranger to controversy, however.
“The most controversial meme was probably about the chapel QR code being on the livestream because they removed it from the streams the next week,” @cutrollin wrote. “But I think my LGBT memes have probably ruffled some feathers as well.”
@cutrollin made it clear that their memes are for the benefit of the student body and administration alike.
“There should be no misconception given that I dislike this school; I truly make these memes because I care about the academic entity of Campbellsville University,” @cutrollin wrote. “The most ardent critics of sports teams are usually the fans of those teams. They aren’t critical because they hate the team, they’re critical because they love the team.”
Another well-known campus meme page, @cu.tigger.memes, was created in March 2022.
“. . . we wanted to make a page that didn’t bash CU—sure, we’ll make memes about the quirks and shortcomings, but we don’t ever want to bash it,” @cu.tigger.memes wrote. “… it’s a great school and some of our favorite parts of our lives have been here at CU.”
According to @cu.tigger.memes, their true intentions are simply to make people laugh.
“I’m obviously going to make jokes and memes about the school’s shortcomings or things that I think might be silly and a little stupid with an intended message behind it. But all that is really just more recognition and bringing awareness to said issue or problem. The greatest thing that I want to do is just to find humor in a lot of it and make people laugh.”
The newest of the three meme pages, @cu_uprising, has a colorful, positive take on CU life, which has attracted people to their page since its creation in February of 2023.
“I want students to laugh and hopefully see themselves in some of the posts,” wrote @cu_uprising. “I also want them to get engaged with the account—hunting for stickers on campus, or voicing characters in reels. I want students to recognize that even though there are things about CU [that] we’d change, or wish were better, this is a beautiful community, and we should enjoy it.”
@cu_uprising has a similar goal to @cu.tigger.memes when it comes to their intentions.
“My goal as a meme page is to spread laughter, positivity, and a sense of belonging among the incredible students and faculty at CU,” wrote @cu_uprising. “We have fun here– let’s show people that.”
I enjoy all three of the meme pages and their takes on CU life. Some are more serious, such as @cutrollin bringing to light the safety issues on campus, while others are just for fun, like @cu.tigger.memes’ memes on end-of-semester stress and @cu_uprising’s memes about the soft serve machine never working in the cafeteria. I believe we need a balance in life of fun and seriousness. One of the entertaining parts of these meme pages is watching the competitiveness between them all. Overall, I appreciate these pages and their willingness to take on real issues while having fun at the same time. The sense of community these memes provide is undeniable, and is certainly needed in times like these.
