On July 2, @ferrisxbarstool began posting on Instagram. This isn’t the first time Ferris has had a Barstool page, but its return is fun nonetheless, and it shows the unfiltered student life at Ferris.
According to Barstool Sports, they are a “sports and pop culture blog covering the latest news and viral highlights of each and every day with blogs, videos and podcasts.” Their company has student-affiliated pages throughout numerous colleges in the United States.
The original account, @barstoolferris, began posting in April 2017 and disappeared in Feb. 2021.
This left people like me confused. I was confused to the point where I messaged the @barstoolferris account in February of this year to ask if there would be a return. I received no reply.
@ferrisxbarstool’s first post sheds some light onto where the first page went. Their first post was the Kermit tea-drinking meme captioned “has account with 7K followers. Loses the login info.”
Fast forward to now, Barstool Ferris is regrowing their base. The page, albeit not close to where the old page was, has amassed 1,645 followers with 53 posts.
This new page has strived to hit a wider audience by creating a “Chicks” page. @ferrisstatechicks is a more female oriented Barstool page. In addition to their Instagram pages, @barstoolxferris has returned to Twitter.
The return of Barstool at Ferris offers a very raw and unrefined look at student life on campus. What the account posts is what you would never see from any official Ferris social media page.
For example, the page’s recent posts have given a look into Welcome Weekend and the parties at Campus Creek.
One video shows two ambulances driving through Campus Creek while an unknown student jumps onto the back of one and starts slightly dancing while hanging on.
Another video shows multiple students dancing on top of a car, with one student dancing very provocatively, with a large crowd surrounding it.
It’s assumed that videos like these are submitted by students, as the page’s bio asks students to submit their photos and videos to be featured. This is how Barstool pages cultivate authentic views of student life.
Barstool Ferris also shares polls and brackets related to partying, posts about Ferris’ sports team and Ferris-related memes.
While this page is fun, it begs the question of “should student’s unfiltered moments be published online for all to see?”
It’s the thing our teachers and parents warned us about in this digital age. All the concerns about what we post online being seen by our future employers and the current Ferris administration.
An even bigger question regarding the privacy of students can be raised. The student submissions could be anyone submitting a video of anyone.
My thoughts and advice for these questions and the Barstool Ferris page is this:
We live in a world where nearly everything is being documented in multiple formats. With this being known, we must act accordingly in certain settings and think about what we do. However, this doesn’t mean not to have fun. Parties and moments that are shared online, specifically by Barstool Ferris, are going to happen, regardless of whether someone is recording.
Personally, my advice is to have fun, but don’t be reckless. If you want to be out there like that, go ahead. If you don’t, just don’t.
Barstool Ferris allows you to look into the real student life at Ferris, but it also raises big questions that you must prepare for and answer yourself.