Hillsdale College is a uniquely meme-able place. 

With veteran meme pages like Barstooldale and Hillsdank College as well as newcomers like Logrog Flashback and Fundie_gyatt posting on Instagram regularly, there are enough memeable people and groups to support the entire meme ecosystem.

Fundie_gyatt and Barstooldale’s memes largely rely on fraternity weekend habits and the perils of Manning Street, with Barstooldale adding a few memes about the ever-shirtless men of Galloway Residence. 

Hillsdank_college featured more content about the college’s more out-of-pocket beliefs and faculty, and Log_rogflashback seems more like a sports commentary on the oddities of Hillsdale life. 

I direct messaged all four, and we chatted about Hillsdale meme culture.

It is a popular consensus that Hillsdale simply breeds meme potential, and some things are just too ironic and unique not to be memed. 

So why, one might ask, is Hillsdale so rife with memeable offenses?

It all boils down to three things, the account managers claim.

First, there is simply not much to do. Boredom sparks creativity, and normal pastimes aren’t really on the table. People don’t go to the movies and Applebees on a Friday night, so they go to parties or swing club (places which only provide more fodder for memes). 

Second, the admissions department is shockingly good at finding shockingly idiosyncratic people. People do things at Hillsdale they would never do in the wild. Men have milk chugging contests, women wear leggings under their jean skirts, and sororities throw date parties in the cafeteria.

Third, our stereotypes put “High School Musical” to shame. Instead of the druggies and the band kids, we have the extreme fundamentalists (fundies) quoting Machiavelli and the ATOs dressed in either baseball caps or Charles Schwab-level suits. We normally have tables filled with visiting donors who are overjoyed to sit in on a core chemistry class. We’ve got athletes, but even they like Aristotle.

Thus, despite an influx of meme accounts this year, I don’t think they are going to run out of content.

I’m convinced that if historians thousands of years from now wanted to understand Hillsdale culture, they would only need to survey the meme pages.